THE  UNIVERSE; 

OR,  THE  WONDERS  OF  CREATION.      TF1E  INFINITELY  GREAT  AND  THE  INFI- 
NITELY LITTLE. 

BY  F.  A.   POUCHET,  M.  D. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

A  handsome  illustrated  gift-book,  intended 
to  serve  a  higher  and  more  useful  end  than 
most  of  the  other  works  which  come  to  our 
hands.  .  .  .  We  can  honestly  commend 
this  work,  which  is  admirably,  as  it  is  copi- 
ously, illustrated.  —  London  Times. 


As  interesting  as  the  most  exciting  ro- 
mance, and  a  great  deal  more  likely  to  be 
remembered  to  good  purpose.  —  Standard. 

The  volume  —  and  it  is  a  splendid  one  — will 
serve  as  a  great  educator.  We  have  no  doubt 
that  it  will  find  what  it  deserves,  popularitv 
among  American  readers.  —  Saturday  Review 
(London). 

Both  the  nature  and  object  of  this  book 
incline  us  to  a  favorable  judgment.  M.  Pou- 
chet  recognizes  two  ends  of  a  philosopher's 
mission  in  our  days, —  to  discover  and  to  pop- 
ularize, to  advance  science  and  diffuse  it. 
The  end  selected  in  the  publication  of  this 
work  is  eminently  the  latter:  a  Avorthy  one, 
surely,  than  which  human  nature  rightly  de- 
veloped would  confess  none  more  noble.  But 
it  is  seldom  that  both  the  inclination  and  the 
capacity  to  effect  this  are  united  in  the  one 
person.  The  work  now  before  us  is,  however, 
a  happy  instance  of  this  union.  ...  A 
general  view  of  the  whole  panorama  of  nature 
passes,  in  fact,  before  the  reader's  notice  in 
harmonious  and  comparatively  exhaustive  ar- 
rangement. .  .  .  The  matter  is  refreshed 
throughout  by  a  spirited  French  style.  —  The 
Spectator. 

M.  Pouchet  is  well  known,  and  has  an 
established  reputation  as  a  naturalist  and  an 
original  investigator.  When,  therefore,  he 
descends  to  the  popular,  and,  as  in  this  vol- 
ume, emerges  from  the  study  in  the  full  even- 
ing dress  of  the  drawing-room,  we  know  that 
we  are  listening  to  one  who  has  searched  and 
studied  for  himself.  —  Contemporary  Review. 

Anybody  of  ordinary  intelligence  can  un- 
derstand it,  so  simple  and  so  little  technical  is 


the  style;  and  scarcely  any  book  in  French  or 
English  is  so  likely  to  stimulate  in  the  young 
an  interest  in  the  physical  phenomena. — 
Fortnightly  Review. 


He  touches  nothing  which  he  does  not 
adorn ;  and  science  made  easy  was  never 
more  successfully  attempted.  —  Edinburgh 
Scotsman. 

This  is  just  the  kind  of  book  fitted  to  make 
natural  science  popular,  by  writing  accurately 
while  writing  attractively  on  the  subject.  The 
author  has  the  two  great  advantages  so  rarely 
combined  in  one  pen,  that  while  his  book  has 
all  the  attractiveness  of  fiction,  it  is  raised  on 
deep  strata  of  scientific  fact.  It  is  a  picture, 
and  a  very  graphic  one,  of  the  march  of  sci- 
ence throughout  the  great  kingdom  of  nature. 

—  Morning  Post. 

We  know  of  no  more  attractive  book  for  a 
beginner,  or  one  more  likely  to  excite  to  fur- 
ther study  of  natural  science.  It  is  eminently 
instructive,  and  as  interesting  as  "Robinson 
Crusoe."  — Land  and  Water. 

This  volume  will  prove  a  capital  present.  — 
Athenceum. 

As  a  present  to  an  intelligent  youth  blessed 
with  a  taste  for  natural  history,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  hit  upon  a  more  attractive  volume. 

—  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

It  is  really  a  sterling  book,  notwithstanding 
that  it  attempts  an  account  of  all  the  natural 
objects  which  surround  us.  ...  M.  Pou- 
chet's  book,  then,  is  just  such  a  one  as  might 
be  expected  of  its  author.  In  accuracy  it 
leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  Its  scope  is  im- 
mense. .  .  .  The  style  is  fresh  and  vigor- 
ous, like  that  of  a  preacher  whose  heart  is  in 
his  sermon,  and  whose  congregation  doesn't 
slumber.  In  short,  the  author  carries  his 
reader  along  with  him.  —  Popular  Science 
Review. 


H.   HALLETT   AND   COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS, 
PORTLAND,  MAINE. 


Niagara  Falls,  from  the  Canadian  side. 


THE   UNIVERSE; 


OR, 


THE  WONDERS  OF  CREATION. 


THE    INFINITELY   GREAT   AND    THE    INFINITELY 

LITTLE. 


BY 

R  A.  POUCHET,  M.  D. 

CORRESPONDING   MEMBER   OK   THE   INSTITUTE   OF   FRANCE   (ACAUEMIE   DES  SCIENCES), 

AND  OF  THE  ROYAL  INSTITUTE  OF  ITALY  ; 

DIRECTOR  OF   THE    MUSEUM   OF   NATURAL   HISTORY    AT    ROUEN  ; 
OFFICER   OF   THE    LEGION   OF    HONOR,   ETC. 


SEVENTH    EDITION. 


ILLUSTRATED  BY  270  ENGRAVINGS  ON  WOOD, 
FROM  DRAWINGS  BY  A.  FAGUET,  MESNEL,  AND  EMILE  BAYARD. 


POETLAND,  ME. : 
IT.  HALLETT  AND   COMPANY, 

1883. 


Copyright,  1S82, 
BY  LI.  HALLKTT  AND  COMPANY 


WOLOGif 
UfiflUtf 


PREFACE. 


Mr  sole  object  in  writing  this  work  was  to  inspire  and 
extend  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  a  taste  for  natural  sci- 
ence. 

I  should  feel  pleased  were  this  study  to  be  looked  upon 
as  the  entrance  of  the  temple  in  which  lie  hidden  the  mys- 
terious splendors  of  Nature,  and  if  it  were  the  means  of  in- 
spiring some  with  a  desire  to  penetrate  into  the  sanctuary 
itself,  and  uplift  the  veil  which  conceals  them,  my  labors 
will  bear  good  fruit. 

By  the  title  which  I  have  adopted,  my  intention  was 
merely  to  indicate  that  I  had  gathered  from  creation  at 
large,  often  contrasting  the  smallest  of  its  productions  with 
the  mightiest. 

I  have  gleaned  everywhere,  to  show  that  Nature  every- 
where affords  matter  for  interesting  observations.  The  ani- 
mal and  the  vegetable  worlds,  the  earth  and  the  heavens, 
appear  by  turns  upon  the  scene. 

Those  who  are  interested  by  this  compendious  series  of 
sketches  and  of  pictures  will  find  more  complete  details  in 


viii  PREFACE. 

the  lengthy  notes  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  pages  to 
which  they  belong.  I  know  that  it  would  require  the  learn- 
ing of  a  Humboldt  and  the  pen  of  a  Michelet  to  execute  in 
a  perfect  manner  the  task  I  have  essayed  ;  but,  neverthe- 
less, I  have  resolved  to  attempt  it.  I  shall  do  my  best  to 
attain  success,  and  wish  with  all  my  heart  that  others  may 
do  better. 

Whoever  aspires  to  the  title  of  a  philosopher  has,  in  the 
present  day,  a  double  mission  to  perform  —  to  discover  and 
to  popularize  ;  he  should  labor  on  the  one  hand  for  the  ad- 
vancement, on  the  other  for  the  diffusion,  of  science.  The 
zoologists  and  botanists  who  shed  the  greatest  lustre  on  our 
modern  epoch  have  shown,  by  the  publication  of  their  con- 
tributions on  natural  history,  that  they  appreciate  this  sa- 
cred mission.  I  have  here  only  imitated  them  in  a  some- 
what more  extended  manner,  and  hope  I  shall  be  pardoned 
for  following  such  an  example. 

It  was  in  sight  of  the  sea,  on  the  magnificent  beach  of 
Treport,  that  I  wrote  this  book  as  a  relaxation  during  a 
vacation. 

Natural  history  is  conveyed  to  the  mind  by  a  succession 
of  pictures,  and  I  have  therefore  in  this  work  endeavored 
to  represent  pictorially  as  many  objects  as  possible. 

The  Publisher,  who  has  shrunk  from  no  outlay,  has  for 
this  purpose  placed  at  my  disposal  artists  of  the  highest 
merit,  in  whose  cooperation  I  have  been  very  fortunate.  I 
have  especially  to  thank  M.  Faguet,  assistant  naturalist  at 


PREFACE.  ix 

the  Sorbonne,  who,  being  at  once  an  accomplished  botanist 
and  an  excellent  draughtsman,  has  given  quite  a  special 
character  to  the  drawings  of  the  plants ;  also  M.  Mesnel, 
who  has  drawn  the  zoological  illustrations  with  much  taste  ; 
and,  lastly,  M.  Emile  Bayard,  to  whose  pencil  we  owe  some 
charming  landscapes. 

F.  A.  POUCHET. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 

BOOK  I. 

PACK 

THE  INVISIBLE  WORLD 3 

Chap.     I.     Microscopic  Animalcules 10 

II.  The  Antediluvian  Infusoria 26 

III.  Fossil  Meal  and  the  Earth-Eaters        30 

IV.  Cities  built  of  Microscopic  Shells 32 

V.     The  Monad 40 

VI.  Resurrections.  —  The  Phoenix  and  Palingenesis    ...          ,42 
VII.     The  Sponge  and  the  Flint 52 

BOOK  II. 

THE  ARCHITECTS  OF  THE  SEA 57 

Chap.     I.     The  Coral  and  its  Builders 59 

II.     Island  Builders 65 

III.  Stone-Borers  and  Wood-Borers 72 

IV.  Mountain  Builders 79 

BOOK  III. 

INSECTS 85 

Chap.     I.     Marvels  of  Insect  Organization 91 

II.     Metamorphoses 126 

III.  The  Intelligence  of  Insects 137 

IV.  Hunting  Insects 155 

V.     Slave-Makers  and  Warlike  Tribes 164 

VI.     Architects  and  Devourers  of  Towns 1 74 

VII.  Grave- Diggers  and  Miners 182 


xii  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

Page 

Chap.  VIII.     Upholsterers  and  Carpenters 186 

IX.     Cloth-Cutters  and  Lead-Eaters 198 

X.     Hydraulic  Engineers  and  Masons 201 

/  BOOK  IV. 

RAVAGERS  OF  FORESTS 208 

BOOK  V. 

PROTECTORS  OF  AGRICULTURE 219 

BOOK   VI. 

THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  BIRDS 226 

Chap.     I.     Giants  and  Pigmies 233 

II.     The  Instinct  of  Chemistry.  —  Mountain  Builders  and  Gleaners  240 

III.  Work  and  the  Family 246 

IV.  Idlers  and  Assassins 255 

V.     Architecture  intended  for  Enjoyment 266 

VI.     Naval  Architecture 270 

VII.     Miners  and  Masons 277 

VIII.     Weavers  289 


BOOK  VII. 

THE  MIGRATIONS  OF  ANIMALS 295 

Chap.     I.     Migrations  of  Mammals     .     .     .     .     ... 300 

II.     Migrations  of  Birds 304 

II T.     Migrations  of  Reptiles  and  Fishes.  —  Showers  of  Frogs     .     .  320 

IV.     Migrations  of  Insects     .     .          .....  324 


THE   VEGETABLE   KINGDOM. 

INTRODUCTION  . „     ....  337 

BOOK  I. 

THE  ANATOMY  OF  PLANTS 343 

Chap.     I.-    The  Root 347 

II.  The  Stem 349 

III.  The  Leaf ..355 

IV.  The  Flower     .     .  359 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xiil 


BOOK  II. 

Pag-e 

THE  PHYSIOLOGY  OF  PLANTS 367 

Chap.     I.     Absorption 367 

II.     The  Circulation  in  Plants ...377 

III.  The  Respiration  of  Plants 386 

IV.  Transpiration  in  Plants 392 

V.     Growth 404 

VI.     The  Secretions 408 

VII.     The  Sleep  of  Plants 428 

VIII.     Vegetable  Sensibility 432 

IX.     The  Movements  of  Plants 441 

X.     Physiology  of  Flowers 447 

XI.     The  Nuptials  of  Plants 458 


BOOK  III. 

THE  SEED  AND  GERMINATIONT 474 

BOOK  IV. 

EXTREMES  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM 486 

Chap.     I.     The  Lichen  Rock  and  the  Virgin  Forest 486 

II.     Giants  of  the  Vegetable  Kingdom 494 

III.  Vegetable  Longevity 507 

IV.  Density  of  Plants 518 

BOOK  V. 

MIGRATION  OF  PLANTS  .                                                                        .  520 


GEOLOGY. 

BOOK  I. 

FORMATION  OF  THE  GLOBE    .     .    .    .    , 537 

Chap.     I.     Appearance  of  Animals  and  Plants      ...;.....  537 

II.     Primary  Epoch .     *     .  541 

III.  Transition  Period 543 

IV.  Secondary  Epoch 551 

V.     Tertiary  Epoch .  5H3 

VI.     Quaternary  or  Post-Tertiary  Period 570 


XIV  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

BOOK  II. 

Page 

FOSSILS       .    .    .     .     , 583 

BOOK   III. 
THE  MOUNTAINS. —  CATACLYSMS  AND  UPHEAVALS  OF  THE  GLOBE    .     .     590 

BOOK   IV. 
VOLCANOES  AND  EARTHQUAKES       615 

BOOK  V. 
GLACIERS  AND  ETERNAL  SNOWS 636 

BOOK  VI. 
CAVERNS  AND  GROTTOES 651 

BOOK   VII. 
STEPPES  AND  DESERTS 661 

BOOK  VIII. 
THE  AIR  AND  ITS  CORPUSCULES 677 

THE   SIDEREAL  UNIVERSE. 

BOOK  I. 

THE  STARS  AND  IMMENSITY 691 

Chap.     I.     The  Stars 691 

II.     The  Nebulse 701 

BOOK  II. 

THE  SOLAR  WORLD 707 

Chap.     I.     The  Sun 707 

II.     The  Earth 711 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xv 

Page 

Chap.  III.     The  Moon        .     .     .     .     „ 714 

IV.     Comets ......  721 


POPULAR  ERRORS. 

MONSTERS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS 733 

INDEX ••••»« 745 


LIST  OF  THE  EN  G  EATINGS. 


No.  of  Fig.  Pago 

THE  FALLS  OF  NIAGARA (Frontispiece  No.  1) 

THE  VICTORIA  FALLS  ON  THE  ZAMBESI  RIVER  .       (Frontispiece  No.  2) 

1.  Various  Infusoria,  or  Microzoa 11 

2.  Successive  forms  assumed  by  the  Proteus 11 

3.  Wagener's  Lieberkuhnia :  Lieberkuhnia  Wageneri 12 

4.  Infusoria  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  Sea,  seen  with  the  Microscope        .        .        15 

5.  Medusa  campanularia   .        .         .         ....         .         .         .         .         .         .16 

6.  The  Hydrostatic  Physophora  :  Physophora  muzonema 17 

7.  The  Miliary  Noctiluca,  highly  magnified  :  Noctiluca  miliaria       .         .        .        .19 

8.  The  Red  Trichodesmia  :   Trichodesmia  rubra 20 

9.  Infusoria  and  Living  Diatomaceae  from  the  strata  under  Berlin          .         .         .22 

10.  Trichinae  gnawing  a  muscle,  magnified 24 

11.  Female  Trichina  depositing  her  Young,  magnified 25 

12.  Infusoria  in  Tripoli,  from  Richmond,  N.  America 28 

13.  Skeletons  of  Silicious  Infusoria,  as  seen  under  the  Microscope     .         .         .         .29 

14.  Microscopic  view  of  Infusoria  in  Mountain-Meal  of  Ebsdorf    ....        31 

15.  Magnified  Miliola  with  its  Capillary  Appendages  projected         .         .         .         .33 

16.  1,  Rock  of  the  Arabian  Chain  formed  by  Agglomerated  Nummulites  used  for 

building  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt ;  2,  3,  Interior  view  of  Nummulites  ;  4,  Num- 
mulites of  which  the  Sphinx  is  exclusively  composed  (Lybian  Chain)  .         34 

17.  View  of  the  Sphinx  and  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt        .        .•        .        .         .35 

18.  Gigantic  Tridacna,  used  in  the  Moluccas  as  a  Bathing-Tub     ....         38 

19.  Fossil  Ammonites          .         .         .        .        .  \         .        .        .        .         .40 

20.  Monads .        ...        .        .         41 

21.  Animals  alleged  to  be  capable  of  Resuscitation.  —  Tardigrade,  Rotifer,  etc.        .     44 

22.  Neptune's  Cup  :  Raphidophwa  patera        ........         55 

23.  Sargassum  or  Swimming  Fucas :  Fucus  bacciferus        »        ..       .        i         .         .58 

24.  Branched  Coral:   Caryophillia  ramea         .         ...         ...         .         .         61 

25.  Red  Coral,  magnified  :   Corallium  rubrum      .        .        .        .        »        ...     62 

26.  Coral  Island  in  the  Archipelago  of  Pometou     .         .        .    •    .        .         .         .         68 

27.  Dactyloid  Pholades  in  their  holes :  Pholns  dactylus      ....        .         .     73 

28.  Stone-Eating  Modiolus :  Modfolus  liihophaqus  .  .         .         .        .         .         74 

29.  Ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Serapis.     From  a  Photograph   .         .         .         .75 

30.  Teredo  or  Ship-Worm,  and  fragment  of  wood  devoued  by  others  .         .         79 

31.  Shells  of    Molluscs.    Foraminifera,  greatly  enlarged 82 

32.  Chalk  of  Meudon,  seen  with  the  Microscope 83 

33.  Goliath  of  Drury  :   Goliathus  giganteus  (natural  size)    ......     86 


xviii  LIST  OF  THE  ENGRAVINGS. 

No.  of  Fig.  Page 

34.  Leaf-Insect :  Mormolyce  phyllodes 87 

35.  Mernbraceae,  much  magnified.     "  Little  Devils  "  of  Geoffrey     ....  88 

36.  Buprestis  imperialis         .                  89 

37.  Cetonia  Cervus . 89 

38.  Pltalcena  hyemalis,  male  and  female 90 

39.  Phalcena  nuda,  male  and  female 90 

40.  Stenopteryx  of  the  Swallow  :  Stenopteryx  hirundinis 90 

41.  Melophagus  of  the  Sheep  :  Melophagus  ovis 90 

42.  Mosquito,  highly  magnified  :   Culex  (Linn.)    .......  92 

43.  Organs  of  the  Mouth  of  Gnat .        .92 

44.  Tsetse  Fly,  natural  size  and  magnified 95 

45.  Pyralis  of  the  Vine  in  its  different  stages  :  Pyralis  strigulalis    ....  98 

46.  Sphinx  Galii  sipping  up  honey        .         ........  101 

47.  Scales  from  the  Wings  of  different  Butterflies,  seen  with  the  Microscope           .  102 

48.  Muscular  Apparatus  of  the  Willow-Eating  Caterpillar  :   Cossus  ligniperda   .  103 

49.  Brush  and  Pincers  of  the  Common  Bee      . 105 

50.  Bee  seen  from  below  with  its  Ventral  Segments  of  Wax        ....  105 

51.  Hind  Feet  used  as  Ciliary  Oars  iu  the  male  and  female  Dyti^cu*,  and  the  Pre- 

hensile Foot  of  the  male       106 

52.  Claw  of  the  Lion .                  .  .     107 

53.  Spider's  Claw,  seen  with  the  Microscope .  108 

54.  Diversiform  Antenna? ..Ill 

55.  Head  and  Jaws  of  the  Willow-Eating  Caterpillar  .         .        .        .         .        .  112 

56.  Common  Ephemera :  Ephemera  communis           .         .         ...        .  .113 

57.  Aerial  Mouth  or  Stigma  of  the  Common  Fly 115 

58.  Larva  of  the  Common  Gnat:   Culex  pipiens       .        .         .        .         .         .  .116 

59.  The  Drone-Fly  (Eristalis  tenax),  and  its  Larva  the  Rat-Tailed  Maggot         .  119 

60.  Glow- Worm,  male  and  female  :  Lampyris  noctlluca 121 

61.  Luminous  Beetle  of  the  West  Indies  :  E 'later  noctilucus          .         .         .         .  121 

62.  Negro  Hut  lighted  up  with  Luminous  Beetles    .        .        .         .        .         .  .122 

63.  Sweet-Smelling  Staphylinus  :  Staphylinus  olens 124 

64.  The  Three  States  of  an  Insect,  as  seen  in  the  Great  Capricornis        .         ,  .127 

65.  Life  and  Metamorphoses  of  the  Dragon-Fly  :  Libellula  depressa    .         .         .  129 

66.  Emperor  Moth v'.        .  .     131 

67.  Larva  and  Nymph  of  the  Panorpis,  much  enlarged         .        .        .        .        .  132 

68.  Earwig:  F or ficula  auricular ia.     Adult,  Nymph,  and  Larva       ....     133 

69.  Head  and  Proboscis  of  different  Butterflies      .         .         .        .                          .  134 

70.  Hooked  Feet  and  Nail  of  the  Willow-Caterpillar        .        .        .        .        .  .135 

71.  Great  Tortoise-Shell  Butterfly :    Vanessa  polychloros       .        .        .  •      .  136 

72.  Coleoptera  of  the  family  of  Carabidas .139 

73.  Pine  Curculio,  enlarged .         140 

74.  Lily  Crioceris  and  its  Larva :   Crioceris  merdigera      .         .         .         .         .         .     1 42 

75.  Calosoma  (Calosoma  inquisitor)  pursuing  a  Bombardier  (Brachinus  crepitans), 

who  is  fighting  in  retreat .143 

76.  Young  of  the  Reduvius  personatus  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         145 

77.  Pine  Silk- Worm  Moth  :  Bombi/x  dispar.    Caterpillar,  Chrysalis,  and  Butterfly     149 

78.  Caterpillar  devoured  by  the  Larvae  of  Ichneumons,  and  Caterpillar  covered 

with  their  Cocoons 151 

79    Dung-Beetles  or  Sacred  Scarabaji  (Ateuchus  sacer),  making  their  Balls        .         152 


LIST  OF  THE  ENGRAVINGS.  xix 

No.  of  Fig.  Page 

80.  Cartouches  from  Temples  of  Philae  representing  Sacred  Scarabaeus,  Ibis,  etc  153 

81.  Cicindela  campestris        ...........  156 

82.  Carabus  purpureus 156 

83.  Chinese  Cicindela -     .  156 

84.  The  Ant-Lion  (Myrmeleon  formicarius),  and  its  Pit           .         .         .        .         .  157 

85.  Bird-Eating  Spider  (Mygale  avicularia)  killing  a  Humming-Bird          .         .  162 

86.  Return  of  Ants  after  a  Battle,  magnified          . 165 

87.  Ant  about  to  milk  Aphides,  highly  magnified 170 

88.  Honey- Ant:  Myrmecocyctus  Mexicanus .         .173 

89.  Warrior  Termites  :   Termes  bellicosus.     Soldier,  Workman,  male  and  female  176 

90.  Village  of  Warrior  Termites 177 

91.  Nest  of  the  Tree  Termite  :  Termes  arborum 181 

92.  The  Bury  ing- Beetle  :  Necrophorus  sepultor 183 

93.  Burying-Beetles  interring  a  small  Rat 184 

94.  Mole-Cricket,  natural  size  :   Gryllotalpa  vulgaris 185 

95.  Garden-Spider  (Epeira  diadema),  male  and  female 189 

96.  Mason-Spider  (Mygale  ccementaria),  and  Interior  of  its  Dwelling      .         .         .  191 

97.  Goat-Moth  and  Willow-Eating  Caterpillar  :   Cossus  ligniperda      .         .         .  193 

98.  Carpenter-Bee  and  its  Chambers  for  its  Young 1 96 

99.  Larvae  of  the  Clothes-Moth  (Tinea  sarcitella),  magnified       ....  198 

100.  Clothes-Moth  in  its  butterfly  state,  magnified 199 

101.  Sheath  Phryganea:  Phryyanea  striata.     Larva  and  Adult  Insect          .         .  199 

102.  Giant  Sirex  (Sirex  giganteus),  the  Larva  of  which  gnaws  lead          .         .         .  200 

103.  Aquatic  Spider  and  its  Diving-Bell .         .  203 

104.  Paper-Making  Wasps  :   Vespa  nidulans 206 

105.  Nest  of  the  Paper-Making  Wasp   . 207 

106.  Pine  Bombyx  or  Phalaena :  Phalcena  Bombyx  pini 211 

107.  Pine-Eating  Phalaena  :  Phalcena  Bombyx  pinivora 214 

103.  Nuptial  Chamber  of  the  Pine  Hylesinus    .         .         ...        .         .         .         .216 

109.  ConePyralis:  Tortrix  Strobiliana.     Caterpillar  and  Butterfly      .         .         .  217 

110.  Common  European  Mole :  Talpa  Europcea      .        .        ...        .        .  220 

111-113.    Flesh-Eating  Coleoptera  of  the  family  Carabidee :   Calosoma  sycophanta; 

Anthia  duodecimpunctata ;  Carabus  gryphceus  .         .         .         ...         .  223 

114.  Giant  Scarites  (Scarites  Icevigatus)  in  its  lurking-place           .         .         .        .  224 

115.  Nest  of  the  Common  Magpie :   Corvus  pica       •  --'.-.        .        .        .         .  227 

116.  The  King  Penguin :  A ptenodytes  Patagon ica       ..        .        .         .         .  229 

117.  Moa  or  Gigantic  Dinornis  (D.  giganteus)  and  Apteryx  (A.  Mantelli)        .         .  231 

118.  Comparative  Dimensions  of  Birds' Eggs :  1,  of  the  Epiornis ;  2,  of  the  Os- 

trich ;  3,  of  the  Hen  ;  4,  of  the  Humming-Bird 236 

119.  Nest  of  the  Saw-Beaked  Humming-Bird  :  Petasophora  serrirostris         .        .  237 

120.  Nest  of  the  Mound-Building  Mcgapodius,  vertical  section          .        .        .         .  241 

121.  Nest  of  the  Mound-Building  Megapodius,  seen  from  above  ....  241 

122.  Australian  Landscape,  with  Nest  of  the  Mound-Building  Megapodius      .         .  243 

123.  Nest  of  the  Penduline  Titmouse  :  Parns  pendulinus 247 

124.  Nest  of  the  Cape  Titmouse :  Panis  Capensis    .         ..       .     •   .        ,        .         .  248 

125.  Nest  of  a  Community  of  the  African  Social  Grossbeaks  :  Lojcia  soda           .  249 

126.  Tailor-Bird  and  Nest :  Sylvia  sutoria 253 

127.  Nest  of  the  Golden  Oriole :  Oriolus  gnlbula 254 

128.  Nest  of  the  Common  Wren  :  Troglodytes  Europceus 256 


xx  LIST  OF  THE  ENGRAVINGS. 

No.  of  Fig.  Page 

129.  Nest  of  the  Barn-Owl :  StrixJJammea 258 

130.  Nest  of  the  Goshawk  :  Astur  palumbarius 259 

131.  Cuckoo  killing  Golden-Crested  Wrens 264 

132.  Nuptial  Arbor  of  the  Spotted  Bower-Birds  :   Chlamydera  maculata          .        .  267 

133.  Nest  of  the  Reed-  Warbler  :  Motacilla  arundinacea 271 

134.  Floating  Nests  of  the  Little  Grebe  :   Colymbus  minor         .         .        .  •       .         .275 

135.  Nests  of  the  Red  Flamingo  :  Phoenicopterus  ruber 279 

136.  Edible  Nests  of  the  Salangane  :  Hirundo  esculenta 282 

137.  Nests  of  the  Party-Colored  Wren  :  Regulus  omnicolor 283 

138.  Burrowing-Owl  (Strix  cunicularia) ,  and  section  of  its  Burrow          .        .         .  287 

139.  Nest  of  the  Fondia  erythrops 290 

140.  Nest  of  a  Troopial 291 

141.  Nest  of  the  Baltimore  Bird  :  Icterus  Baltimore 293 

142.  Catching  Wild  Geese,  from  a  painting  in  Temples  of  Beni-Hassan          .         .  298 

143.  Nycteris  of  Upper  Egypt :  Nycteris  Geoffroyi 302 

144.  Lemming:  Myodts  lemmue .  303 

145.  Crane's  Nest  on  an  Egyptian  Monument 306 

146.  Condor  or  Great  Vulture  of  the  Andes  :   Vultur  gryphus 307 

147.  Ariel  Swallow  :  Hirundo  Ariel 311 

148.  The  Passenger  Pigeon  :  Columba  Migratoria 316 

149.  Family  of  Sparkling-Tailed  Humming-Birds:  Typhcena  Duponti        .        .  317 

150.  Stickleback  in  its  Nest :   Gasterosteits  trachurus 323 

151.  Migrating  Locust :  Acridium  peregrinum 326 

152.  Dried  Locusts  prepared  for  Market 328 

153.  Common  May-Bug  :  Melolontha  vulgaris,  male,  female,  Larva,  and  Nymph  331 

154.  Corn  and  Rice  Weevils 333 

155.  Water-Reservoir  of  the  Anabas 334 

156.  Anabas  or  Climbing  Perch  :  Perca  scandens 334 

157.  Cellular  Tissue  filled  with  Fecula,  seen  with  the  Microscope        .        .        .  344 

158.  Fruit  of  the  Bread-Fruit  Tree  :  Artocarpus  incisa 345 

159.  Adventitious  Roots  upon  a  Trunk.     Duhamel's  experiment        .         .        .  348 

160.  Spongiole  of  the  Floating  Pontederia  :  Pontederia  crassipes      ....  349 

161.  Section  of  Cork-Tree.     Layers  of  Cork,  Inner  Bark,  Concentric  Rings  of 

Wood,  and  Medullary  Rays 350 

162.  Egyptian  Papyrus  :   Cyperus  Papyrus 353 

163.  Palm,  Horizontal  Section  of  Stem 355 

164.  Palm,  Longitudinal  Section  of  Stem 355 

165.  Aerial  or  Pulmonary,  and  Aquatic  or  Branchial,  Leaves         ....  356 

166.  A  River  Reach  filled  with  the  Floating  Leaves  of  the  Victoria  regia    .        .  357 

167.  Petaloid  Perianth  of  the  White  Lily  :  Lilium  candidum 360 

168.  Stamen  of  the  Potato     .                 361 

169.  Four-Celled  Anther  of  the  Persian  Laurel 361 

170.  Stamen  of  the  Amaryllis 361 

171.  Pollen  of  Different  Plants,  seen  with  the  Microscope 362 

172.  Pistil  of  the  Poppy 363 

173.  Pistil  of  the  Madder  Plant 363 

174.  Flowers  protected  by  a  Spathe.     Florentine  Iris 365 

175.  Pagoda  Fig-Tree  (Ficus  religiosa),  with  its  Aerial  or  Adventitious  Roots        .  369 

176.  Ice-Plant :  Mesembryanthemum  crystallinum 373 


LIST  OF  THE  ENGRAVINGS.  xxi 

No.  of  Fig.  Page 

177.  Absorption  by  the  Leaves.     Mariotte's  experiment          .        .        .         .        .  375 

178.  Force  of  Vegetable  Circulation  and  Absorption 378 

179.  Scene  in  North  America.  —  Collecting  the  Sap  of  the  Sugar-Maple        .        .  379 

180.  The  Wine-Tree  or  Wine-Bearing  Sago-Palm  :  Sagus  vinifera      .        .         .  383 

181.  Respiration  of  Plants.     Disengagement  of  Oxygen  under  Water    .        .        .  389 

182.  Discovery  of  the  Transpiration  of  Plants      . 393 

183.  Transpiration  in  Plants 394 

184.  Transpiration  in  the  Sunflower 395 

185.  Edible  Arum  :   Colocasia  esculenta 397 

186.  The  Weeping-Tree  :   Ccesalpinia  pluuiosa ,  399 

187.  Pitcher-Plant :  Nepenthes  distillatoria .401 

188.  The  Purple  Sarracenia :  Sarracenia  purpurea 403 

189.  Gigantic  Lycoperdon  or  Puff- Ball 407 

190.  The  Tapioca  Plant  and  its  Root :  Mani/iot  ut'dissima    .        ...        .        .  410 

191.  Manna-Tree:  Fraxinus  ornus,  and  Manna-Gathering  in  Sicily         .        .        .  414 

192.  Combustion  of  the  Vapors  of  Bastard  Dittany     .        .        .                        ff  415 

193.  Thyrsus  of  Flowers  of  the  Yellow  Cinchona  :   Cinchona  cordifolia    .         .        .419 

194.  Nutmeg-Tree  :  Myristica  moschata 421 

195.  The  Camphor-Tree  or  Camphor-Laurel :  Laurus  Camphora     ....  423 

196.  Sensitive  Plant  Asleep  and  Awake  :  Mimosa  pudica 430 

197.  The  Mandrake  :  Atropa  Mandragora 434 

198.  Semaphore  Plant :  Desmodia  oscillans  .         .         .         .         .        .        .         .  442 

199.  Venus'  Fly-Trap  :  Dioncea  muscipula 444 

200.  Sacred  Lotus  of  the  Egyptians  :  Nelumbium  speciosum          ....  449 

201.  Flowers  of  Rafflesia  Arnoldi .         .         .454 

202.  Influence  of  Insects  upon  the  Fecundation  of  Flowers           ....  465 

203.  Nuptials  of  the  Common  Utricularia  :   Utricularia  vulgaris       ....  469 

204.  Branch  of  the  Utricularia  laden  with  its  Hydrostatic  Vesicular  Leaves        .  473 

205.  Forest  of  Mangroves 477 

206.  Germination  of  an  Arundo  Indica .  479 

207.  Roots  lighted  from  below  and  directing  themselves  towards  the  Light    .         .  483 

208.  Forest  of  Palm-Trees  on  the  Banks  of  the  Nile  :  Phcenix  dactylifera   .        .  487 

209.  Arborescent  Ferns  of  the  Forests  of  New  Zealand 493 

210.  Chapel  Oak  of  Allouville,  Normandy     .         .         .         .        .         .         .         .  497 

211.  The  Great  Chestnut-Tree  of  Mount  Etna,  called  of  a  Hundred  Horses     .         .  501 

212.  Gigantic  Cedar  of  California  :    Wellingtonia  gigantea 505 

213.  The  Lime-Tree  of  the  Battle  of  Morat 509 

214.  Gigantic  Baobab  of  the  African  Forests  :  Adansonia  digitata       .         .         .  513 
.215.   Dragon's-Blood  Tree  of  the  Island  of  Teneriffe  :  Dracncea  Draco    .         .         .  516 

216.  The  Green  Tremella :   Tremella  atro-virens 519 

217.  Edible  Air-Borne  Lichen  :  Lecanora  esculenta 522 

218.  Imaginary  View  of  a  Forest  of  the  Coal  Period 545 

219.  Imaginary  Landscape  during  the  Secondary  Epoch,  with  Pterodactyls   .         .  553 

220.  Head  of  Ichthyosaurus  :  Ichthyosaurus  communis 555 

221.  Gnomes  of  the  German  Legends  laying  bare  the  Skeleton  of  an  Ichthyosaurus  557 

222.  Fossil  Shells  of  the  Secondary  Period 560 

223.  Imaginary  Landscape  during  the  Tertiary  Period,  with  groups  of  Palaeothe- 

ria,  etc 565 

224.  Fossil  Shells  of  the  Tertiary  Epoch 568 


xxii  LIST  OF  THE  ENGRA  VINGS. 

No.  of  Fig.  Page 

225.  Fossil  Libellula  or  Dragon-Fly  of  the  Secondary  Epoch       ....  584 

226.  Impressions  of  Rain-Drops  and  Animals'  Footsteps  on  Antediluvian  Rocks     .  586 

227.  Modern  Upheaval.  —  Jorullo  in  Mexico 595 

228.  View  in  Tierra  del  Fuego.     Conical  Peaks  of  Admiralty  Strait       .         .         .597 

229.  Spectres  of  the  Brocken  in  the  Harz 603 

230.  Valley  of  Erosion.  —  Cascade  in  the  Gorges  of  Mount  Taurus        .        .        .607 
230  a.   The  Yosemite  Falls,  Northern  California 611 

231.  Goenong  Api,  Banda  Islands,  in  the  Moluccas 617 

232.  View  of  the  Interior  of  the  Crater  of  Popocatepetl 619 

233.  Eruption  of  Cotopaxi  in  1741 625 

234.  Etna.  —  Cascade  of  Red-Hot  Lava  during  the  Eruption  of  1771  .         .         .  626 

235.  Pimelodes  of  the  Cyclops  (Pimelodus  Cyclopum)  ejected  from  Volcanoes         .  629 

236.  Grand  Geyser  of  the  Firehole  Basin,  Rocky  Mountains        ....  633 

237.  Basaltic  Cliffs  and  Causeway,  Staffa 635 

238.  A  Bay  in  Spitzbergen 637 

239.  Mount  Erebus,  Antarctic  Regions 639 

240.  Glaciers  in  the  Bay  of  the  Magdalen,  Spitzbergen 641 

241.  A  Chain  of  Icebergs  in  the  Polar  Regions 647 

242.  Proteus  of  the  Subterranean  Rivers  of  Carniola 652 

243.  Cyprinodons  of  the  Mammoth  Cave,  Kentucky 653 

244.  The  Styx,  a  Subterranean  River  in  the  Mammoth  Cave       ....  655 

245.  Dead  Sea  in  the  Mammoth  Cave 657 

246.  The  Great  Desert  of  Korosko,  Nubia 663 

247.  Travellers  attacked  by  Vampires      .         .         . 666 

248.  The  American  Vampire  :   Vampirus  spectrum 667 

249.  The  Mirage  in  the  Desert 671 

250.  Island  of  Philae,  or  the  Sacred  Island,  Nubia 673 

251.  New  Zealand  Swift-Moth  (Hepialus  virescens)  and  its  Larva;  the  latter  with 

a  Fungus  ( Cordiceps  Roberta)  growing  on  it  and  rooted  by  it  in  the  Soil  681 

252.  Spontaneously  formed  Microscopic  Grains  which  are  found  in  Fermentations  684 

253.  The  great  Reflecting  Telescope  constructed  by  Lord  Rosse           .         .         .  696 

254.  Spiral  Nebula  of  the  Constellation  of  the  Greyhounds  ( Canes  Venatici)  .         .  703 

255.  The  Dumb-Bell  Nebula.  —  Constellation  of  the  Fox  (  Vulpecula)           .        .  704 

256.  The  Crab  Nebula.  —  Constellation  of  the  Bull  ( Taurus) 705 

257.  Spots  on  the  Sun 709 

258.  Comparative  Dimensions  of  the  Earth  and  Moon 713 

259.  Appearance  of  the  Moon  when  Full 716 

260.  Craters  on  the  Moon's  Surface  at  Sunset 717 

261.  Part  of  the  Moon's  Crescent  during  the  First  Quarter          ....  719. 

262.  Donati's  Comet  on  5th  October,  1858 722 

263.  Swarm  of  Shooting-Stars  at  Sea 728 

264.  The  Aurora  Borealis  in  the  Arctic  Seas 729 

265.  Dragon  of  the  Caverns  of  Mount  Pilatus      .......  736 

266.  Sea-Serpent 737 

267.  Cetacean  attacking  a  Ship 739 

268.  Marine  Monster         . „         .         .         .740 

269.  The  Bird-Tree ,         ,         .         .         .  741 

270.  Mandragora  Roots  Carved ;  used  for  Enchantment  .        .         .         .743 


THK  VICTORIA  FALLS   ON  THE  ZAMBESI  RIVER, 

IN  SOUTHERN  AFRICA,   DISCOVERED   BY  LIVINGSTONE. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


Know  ye  how  opens  out  the  seed,  and  how  the  plant  up  grows, 
How,  soft  and  green  in  sweet  spring-tide,  'tis  ripe  ere  summer's  close? 
How,  in  the  downy  covert  of  the  swift-winged  swallow's  nest, 
Instinct  to  mother-love  expands  in  the  gentle  creature's  breast; 
And  how,  beneath  the  shelter  of  the  frail,  translucent  shell, 
A  winged  germ  takes  life  one  day  to  quit  its  narrow  cell  ? 

FKED.  DESCHAMPS. 


BOOK  I. 


THE  INVISIBLE  WORLD. 

OUR  imagination,  says  Bonnet,  one  of  the  most  zealous 
expounders  of  natural  history,  is  equally  confounded  by 
what  is  infinitely  great  as  by  what  is  infinitely  small. 

In  fact,  the  phenomena  of  creation  astound  us,  whether 
we  raise  our  eyes  to  investigate  the  mechanism  of  the 
heavens,  or  bend  them  downwards  to  examine  the  tiniest 
creatures  of  this  lower  realm. 

Immensity  is  everywhere.  It  stands  revealed  in  the 
azure  dome  of  heaven,  where  glows  a  perfect  dust  of  stars, 
and  in  the  living  atom  too  minute  to  display  to  us  the  mar- 
vels of  its  organization. 

"  Whoever,"  says  an  illustrious  orator,  "  contemplates  this 
spectacle  with  the  eye  of  imagination,  feels  the  littleness 
of  man  compared  to  the  greatness  of  the  universe."  But 
although  it  is  true  that,  in  presence  of  the  immensity  of 
space  and  the  eternal  duration  of  time,  a  feeling  of  humil- 
ity overpowers  us  ;  although  each  step  that  man  takes  in 
his  path,  and  every  wrinkle  that  furrows  his  brow,  reveals 
his  utter  feebleness ;  yet  the  mind  within,  that  divine  ema- 
nation, supports  him  on  his  journey  by  showing  him  both 
his  power  and  his  lofty  origin. 


4  THE   UNIVERSE. 

If,  at  the  very  outset  of  our  studies,  we  cast  a  glance 
upon  the  universe  in  general,  we  are  astonished  at  its  vast- 
ness,  and  have  to  confess  that  merely  human  attempts  to 
explain  its  origin  fall  far  behind  the  sublimity  of  its  pro- 
portions. 

For  instance,  the  Chinese  accounts  of  creation  represent 
the  first  organizer  of  chaos  under  the  form  of  a  feeble  old 
man,  enervated  and  tottering,  called  Pan-Kou-Che,  sur- 
rounded by  confused  masses  of  rock,  and  holding  a  chisel 
in  one  hand  and  a  hammer  in  the  other.  He  toils  painfully 
at  his  work,  and,  covered  with  perspiration,  carves  out  the 
crust  of  the  globe,  at  the  same  time  that  he  clears  a  path 
through  a  wilderness  of  rocky  masses. 

One  shudders  at  the  feebleness  of  the  workman  when 
compared  with  the  immensity  of  the  task.  Wellnigh  lost 
amidst  enormous  masses  of  shattered  stone  which  surround 
him  on  every  side  and  encumber  the  picture,  he  is  scarcely 
seen,  —  a  pigmy  executing  a  herculean  task. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  people  of  the  North,  looking  upon 
their  own  rugged  land,  thought  that  some  god  in  his  ter- 
rible anger  had  broken  up  the  surface  of  it,  and  gathered 
the  debris  into  heaps.  To  the  children  of  Scandinavia  this 
deity  was  not  a  palsied  and  infirm  old  man  ;  they  required 
a  divinity  endowed  with  their  own  savage  energy.  In 
their  eyes  it  was  the  god  of  tempests,  the  redoubtable  and 
gigantic  Thor,  who,  armed  with  a  mighty  hammer,  and  sus- 
pended over  the  abyss,  with  furious  blows  broke  up  the 
crust  of  the  earth,  and  fashioned  the  rocks  and  mountains 
with  the  splinters.  Here  we  see  a  conception  far  before 
that  of  the  feeble  old  Pan-Kou-Che  ;  manly  vigor  is  substi- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  5 

tuted  for  the  impotence  of  old  age.  Thor  shows  like  a  re- 
volted giant,  raging  and  shattering  everything  that  falls 
within  his  reach. 

But  to  us,  accustomed  to  bow  before  an  all-powerful 
Creator,  such  images  appear  very  puerile.  Instead  of  these 
old  men  and  giants  laboriously  occupied  in  hammering 
out  the  globe,  we  trace  everywhere  the  invisible  hand  of 
God.  In  one  place,  with  a  delicacy  which  passes  all  con- 
ception, it  fashions  and  animates  the  insect  with  the  breath 
of  life  ;  in  another,  expanding  itself  to  vast  dimensions,  it 
guides  and  governs  the  worlds  scattered  through  space,  con- 
vulses or  annihilates  them.  It  is  at  such  times  that  with 
direful  throes  mountains  are  heaved  up  and  abysses  open 
on  our  globe,  and  upon  these  gigantic  ruins,  as  upon  each 
grain  of  sand,  the  philosopher  finds  written  a  grand  page 
of  natural  theology. 

In  fact,  every  crumbling  peak  displays  to  our  view  the 
remains  of  generations  buried  by  the  revolutions  of  the 
globe.  Their  numbers,  their  size,  their  new  and  'strange 
forms,  astonish  us ;  but  we  cannot  doubt  the  evidence,  for 
these  inanimate  remains,  of  which  the  earth  has  faithfully 
kept  the  impress,  are  so  many  medals  struck  by  the  Creator 
and  spared  by  the  hand  of  time,  to  reveal  to  us  the  world's 
eventful  history. 

If  we  investigate  the  active  forces  of  our  planet,  we  soon 
perceive  that  their  power  is  boundless.  When  they  are  un- 
chained within  its  bowels,  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth 
is  shaken.  At  one  time  they  raise  up  the  Alps  and  Hima- 
layas, with  their  summits  towering  into  the  region  of  the 
clouds.  At  another,  almost  cleaving  the  globe  from  pole  to 


6  THE   UNIVERSE. 

pole,  the  Andes  and  America  rise  from  the  bosom  of  the 
sea;  then  the  startled  waves,  tumultuously  pouring  over 
the  ancient  world,  produce  one  of  the  more  recent  catas- 
trophes, the  great  deluge.  Thus  the  supreme  Power  de- 
creed ! 

When,  after  having  viewed  the  imposing  phenomena 
which  are  taking  place  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  we  look 
down  upon  its  tiniest  inhabitants,  we  see  revealed,  in  unex- 
pected magnificence,  the  wisdom  of  Providence  ;  erelong 
the  spectacle  of  immensity  in  what  is  infinitely  little  aston- 
ishes us  no  less  than  the  immeasurable  power  displayed  in 
the  grand  scenes  of  creation.  Animate  life  recalls  to  mind 
the  ancient  doctrine  of  pantheism,  according  to  which  every 
molecule  of  created  matter  was  imbued  with  a  portion  of 
the  all-pervading  deity  ;  so  life  reveals  itself  everywhere : 
armed  with  the  microscope,  the  eye  discovers  traces  of  it  in 
every  interstice  of  matter. 

Fontenelle,  the  learned  secretary  of  the  Academy,  used 
to  inveigh  against  the  ancient  verbose  scholasticism,  which 
he  rightly  called  the  philosophy  of  words.  He  would  have 
had  the  intellect  occupied  solely  with  facts,  —  with  the  phi- 
losophy of  things.  We  are  about  to  prove  ourselves  follow- 
ers of  his  precepts  by  restricting  ourselves  to  the  results  of 
observation. 

Nothing  gives  a  more  brilliant  idea  of  the  universal  dif- 
fusion of  life  throughout  space  than  the  prodigious  number 
of  organisms  which  we  meet  everywhere  and  in  all  bodies. 
The  demonstration  of  this  fact  is  one  of  the  most  recent 
and  magnificent  conquests  achieved  by  science. 

We  owe  it  to  the  microscope,  discovered  about  a  century 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  7 

and  a  half  ago.  This  instrument  at  once  displayed  to  men 
objects  so  new,  striking,  and  unexpected  that  it  was  every- 
where admitted  to  have  opened  up  a  new  world,  by  confer- 
ring, as  it  were,  upon  us  an  additional  sense  wherewith  to 
investigate  the  invisible. 

When  we  read  the  works  of  naturalists,  and  see  them 
penetrating  so  deeply  into  the  most  recondite  secrets  of  the 
anatomy  and  habits  of  beings,  the  very  existence  of  which 
the  eye  could  not  lead  us  to  suspect,  we  are  apt  to  ask  if 
the  pride  of  genius  has  not  led  it  beyond  the  simple  reali- 
ties of  nature  ;  and  hence,  for  a  long  time,  the  statements 
of  microscopists  were,  by  some  obstructive  minds,  regarded 
as  fables.  But  when  we  see  their  instruments,  and  observe 
the  remarkable  precision  with  which  they  are  constructed, 
we  at  once  conclude  that,  however  marvellous  their  inves- 
tigations appear,  there  has  been  no  self-deception  in  their 
case. 

The  microscope  was  discovered  in  Holland  about  the 
same  time  by  two  men  of  science,  Leuwenhoeck  and  Hart- 
zoeker,  who  each  maintained  that  the  priority  of  invention 
belonged  to  himself.  The  former  was,  however,  really  the 
father  of  microscopy ;  the  latter  was  essentially  a  natural 
philosopher.  The  discussions  between  them  were  often 
bitter  and  unseemly.  Leuwenhoeck  lived  isolated  and 
solitary ;  he  did  not  want  any  person  to  penetrate  into  his 
secrets ;  his  wife  and  daughter  alone  were  initiated  into 
them,  and  his  door  remained  closely  shut  against  his  young 
and  turbulent  rival. 

Stung  by  this  affront,  the  latter  revenged  himself  to  the 
utmost  of  his  power,  and  assailed  his  antagonist  sharply, 


8  THE    UNIVERSE. 

declaring  that  his  discoveries,  published  for  the  most  part 
in  a  low  and  servile  style,  were  absolutely  chimerical.  In- 
sult followed  hostility,  and  at  last  Hartzoeker  resolved  to 
stick  at  no  means,  and  determined,  at  all  hazards,  to  pry 
into  the  labors  of  his  rival.  By  the  aid  of  the  chief  magis- 
trate of  Leyden,  he  introduced  himself,  under  a  feigned 
name,  to  Leuwenhoeck,  in  order  to  pirate  his  labors;  but 
the  old  microscopist,  recognizing  him,  very  speedily  showed 
him  the  door. 

Leuwenhoeck's  discoveries  are  really  wonderful  when 
compared  with  his  means  of  investigation  ;  the  acute  obser- 
vation of  the  philosopher  transcended  the  power  of  his  in- 
struments, and  even  now  we  ask  how  he  can  have  guessed 
at  so  many  truths,  which  they  could  not  have  revealed  to 
him. 

In  fact,  the  illustrious  Dutchman  never  possessed  an  in- 
strument to  be  compared,  in  point  of  perfection,  to  those 
which  we  use  nowadays ;  he  only  employed  simple  lenses 
which  he  made  himself.  It  was  with  instruments  like  these 
that  he  made  his  most  important  discoveries.  Any  one  can 
verify  this  assertion  in  the  museum  of  the  Koyal  Society  of 
London,  to  which,  on  his  death-bed,  he  bequeathed  those 
magnifying  glasses  that  had  gained  him  so  much  glory. 

Leuwenhoeck's  most  powerful  lenses  did  not  magnify 
more  than  sixty  diameters,  whereas  we  now  possess  achro- 
matic microscopes  which  magnify  1200  to  1500  diameters. 

It  was  recently  stated  in  some  of  the  scientific  journals 
that  two  London  opticians  had  succeeded  in  constructing 
lenses  of  7500  diameters,  equal  to  an  enlargement  of  the 
surface  of  56,000,000  times.  It  was  added  that,  notwith- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  9 

standing  such  an  extraordinary  result,  everything  was  seen 
with  great  clearness. 

Even  the  measurement  of  the  most  minute  microscopic 
details  has  acquired  a  degree  of  precision  surpassing  every- 
thing that  could  be  imagined.  There  are  glass  micrometers 
in  which  each  millimetre  *  is  divided  into  500  parts,  or 
lines,  of  such  tenuity  that  the  most  practised  eye  cannot 
make  them  out.  This  is  effected  by  means  of  an  instru- 
ment of  extreme  delicacy,  which  only  works  in  the  dead  of 
night,  when  there  is  nothing  to  disturb  it  or  impede  the 
accuracy  of  its  tracings.  For  t-his  purpose,  the  workman 
himself  does  not  enter  his  work-room ;  a  piece  of  mechanism, 
moved  by  clock-work,  at  a  suitable  hour  sets  the  machine 
in  movement.  The  invisible  divisions  of  the  glass  plate  are 
engraved  by  means  of  an  excessively  fine  diamond  point, 
which  is  found  to  be  totally  worn  out  when  its  work  is  ac- 
complished. 

But  the  means  of  investigation  at  the  disposal  of  the 
microscopist  do  not  end  here.  In  observations  of  extreme 
delicacy  micrometers  are  called  into  requisition  which  are 
constructed  with  an  ingenious  mechanism  capable  of  divid- 
ing a  millimetre  (say  Ath  of  an  inch)  into  10,000  parts  by 
moving  spiders'  threads  with  the  aid  of  a  simple  screw. 
The  investigator  also  utilizes  in  a  thousand  ways  both  sim- 
ple and  polarized  light,  as  well  as  chemical  re-agents;  and 
as  these  last,  owing  to  the  vapors  they  disengage,  injure 
the  glasses  and  dull  their  surface,  those  who  work  with  the 
microscope,  in  order  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  thus  occa- 
sioned, employ  particular  instruments,  the  lenses  of  which 
are  placed  below  the  objects  to  be  magnified. 

1  Equal  to  .039371  inch. 


10  THE   UNIVERSE. 

After  this  demonstration  of  the  resources  at  its  command, 
will  any  one  accuse  micrography  of  giving  rise  to  those  vain 
illusions  with  which  those  who  do  not  enter  upon  the  in- 
vestigation it  requires  with  a  proper  degree  of  patience  are 
pleased  to  reproach  it  ?  Perchance !  for  this  science  has 
never  ceased  to  recall  the  interminable  discussions  which 
overhung  its  cradle.  The  dispute  between  Leuwenhoeck 
and  Hartzoeker  is  not  yet  allayed. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MICKOSCOPIC   ANIMALCULES. 

THE  animalcules  which  compose  the  microscopic  world 
have  for  a  long  time  been  known  by  the  name  of  Infusoria, 
but  the  term  ought  to  be  abandoned,  as  many  of  these 
creatures  do  not  live  in  infusions,  but,  on  the  contrary,  in- 
habit the  sea  and  fresh  water.  It  would  therefore  be  better 
to  substitute  the  names  Microzoa  and  Protozoa  ; l  the  for- 
mer meaning  little  animals,  the  latter  the  obscure  begin- 
nings of  animal  organization.  The  latter  name  is  exten- 
sively used  in  England. 

For  a  long  time  the  anatomy  of  these  invisible  beings  ap- 
peared a  perfect  mystery,  and  men  despaired  of  ever  com- 
prehending it.  Baron  Gleichen,  having  steeped  carmine  in 
water  containing  some  of  these  animalcules,  was  quite  as- 
tonished to  see  them  fill  themselves  with  coloring  matter. 

1  Names  derived  from  the  Greek  words  mikron  zoon,  little  animal,  and  proton 
zdon,  first  animal. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


11 


But  this  important  fact  passed  unnoticed.  Buffon  and 
Lamarck  still  continued  to  look  upon  them  simply  as  little 
masses  of  animated  gelatine. 

A  French   naturalist,   Dujardin,  reared   up   a   complete 
theory  on  these  data.     Accord- 
ing to  him  the  substance  of  the 
animalcule  represents  a  sort  of 
spongy  tissue,  capable  of   hol- 
lowing itself  out  into  accidental 
cavities,  which  admit  food  and 
expel  it  by  means  of  an  outlet 
which   opens  for  this  purpose 
in  the  surface  of  the  body.     A 
strange    hypothesis,    according        1.  Various  infusoria  or  Microzoa. 
to  which  the  Microzoon  hollows  out  for  itself  stomachs  in 
its  own  substance  and  of  its  own  free-will ! 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  such  a  theory  held  sway  in 
France  long  after  the  publication  of  Ehrenberg's  magnifi- 
cent work  on  the  Infusoria,  in  which  the  learned  Prussian 


2.  Successive  forms  assumed  by  the  Proteus. 

naturalist  demonstrated,  for  the  first  time,  that  these  crea- 
tures, notwithstanding  their  extreme  minuteness,  possess  in 
some  cases  a  surprisingly  complicated  internal  organization. 


12 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


Their  form  is,  as  a  rule,  fixed,  yet  some  of  them  change 
their  shape  at  will,  and  present  to  the  eyes  of  the  astonished 
observers  so  many  d ifferent  aspects  that  at  the  expiration 
of  five  minutes  they  cannot  be  recognized.  At  one  moment 
they  are  globular  or  three-cornered;  an  instant  after  they 
are  seen  taking  on  the  appearance  of  a  star.  Accordingly, 


3.  Wagener's  Lieberkuhnia  :    Lieberkuhnia  Wat/eneri  (Claparede). 

these  creatures,  with  their  deceptive  changes  of  form,  have 
received  the  name  of  Protei,  from  the  famous  sea-god  of 
antiquity,  who  by  his  wonderful  metamorphoses  was  ena- 
bled to  elude  attempts  to  catch  him. 

Some  animalcules  of  this  class  surround  themselves  with 
self-produced  feet   like   living  roots,  the    arrangement    of 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  13 

which  they  are  seen  varying  in  a  thousand  ways.  Some- 
times they  extend  them  to  an  immense  length,  sometimes 
they  withdraw  them  entirely.  They  spread  them  out  sep- 
arately, join  them  together,  or  entwine,  them  like  the  locks 
of  a  Gorgon. 

The  microscopic  world  also  has  its  extremes.  There  is 
as  wide  a  distance  between  the  size  of  its  tiniest  repre- 
sentative, the  Monad,  and  that  of  one  of  its  largest,  the 
hooded  Colpodos,  as  there  is  between  a  beetle  and  an  ele- 
phant. . 

Nothing  is  more  marvellous  than  the  organization  of  these 
invisible  beings,  and  if  attentive  observations  had  not 
placed  the  facts  beyond  doubt,  people  might  have  been 
tempted  to  think  that  the  accounts  given  by  naturalists 
were  pieces  of  romance  or  else  barefaced  lies. 

A  single  Microzoon  has,  so  to  speak,  no  weight ;  placed 
in  the  most  sensitive  balance  it  does  not  impart  to  it  the 
slightest  oscillation.  The  whale,  on  the  other  hand,  attains 
a  length  of  100  feet  and  a  weight  of  200  tons,  —  more  than 
the  weight  of  an  army  of  3000  men;  and  yet  the  pro- 
fusion of  vital  apparatus  in  the  Microzoa  sometimes  exceeds 
that  which  is  seen  in  these  large  animals,  and  in  many 
others.  There  are  some  which  possess  fifteen  to  twenty 
stomachs,  or  even  more.  In  addition  there  is,  in  some  In- 
fusoria, a  curious  mechanism  appended  to  this  superabun- 
dance of  organs,  —  one  of  the  stomachs  being  furnished 
with  teeth  of  extreme  delicacy,  which  can  be  seen  through 
the  transparent  body  moving  and  crushing  the  food. 

Notwithstanding  the  extreme  minuteness  of  these  crea- 
tures, which  remained  unknown  through  so  many  ages,  na- 


14  THE   UNIVERSE. 

ture  has  expended  the  most  watchful  care  upon  them. 
Some  of  them  are  sheltered  beneath  a  calcareous  coat  of 
mail ;  and  in  many  the  protecting  shell  is  indestructible, 
and  of  the  nature  of  flint,  being  formed  of  silex. 

According  to  Ehrenberg,  some  of  the  Infusoria  have 
even  eyes,  which  at  times  present  the  appearance  of  flame- 
red  pupils.  If  we  could  suppose  organs  of  such  minute- 
ness possessing  a  field  of  vision  large  enough  to  allow  these 
animalcules  to  see  us  with  the  instruments  which  we  use  to 
observe  them,  can  we  imagine  what  a  terrific  impression 
we  must  make  upon  them  when  they  see  themselves  in  our 
hands  ? 

Lastly,  many  of  these  animalcules  have,  in  the  interior 
of  the  body,  large  cavities,  which  incessantly  empty  and  fill 
themselves  with  colored  fluid.  These  cavities  represent  the 
heart  of  large  animals,  and  their  fluid  the  blood  ;  and  this 
circulating  system  is  relatively  so  large  that  it  may  be 
stated,  without  any  exaggeration,  that  some  microscopic 
beings  have  hearts  fifty  times  as  large  and  as  strong  in  pro- 
portion as  that  of  the  horse  or  ox. 

If  the  wonderful  organic  perfection  of  those  living  cor- 
puscles surpass  all  our  preconceived  ideas,  their  perpetual 
activity  affords  ground  for  no  less  astonishment.  The  life 
of  all  animals  is  made  up  of  alternate  action  and  repose,  of 
movement  which  wastes  the  forces,  and  sleep  which  repairs 
them  ;  but  the  Infusoria  are  strangers  to  anything  of  the 
kind  ;  their  life  is  an  emblem  of  incessant  agitation.  Eh- 
renberg,  who  observed  them  at  all  hours  of  the  night,  al- 
ways found  them  in  movement,  and  accordingly  concluded 
that  they  had  neither  rest  nor  sleep  !  Even  the  plant,  ex- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


15 


hausted  by  the  performance  of  the  functions  of  vegetable 
life,  sleeps  at  the  close  of  day ;  the  animalcule,  notwith- 
standing its  prodigious  activity,  does  not. 

Struck  with  the  fact,  Owen  has  conjectured  that  this  ex- 
traordinary activity  might  be  due  to  the  enormous  develop- 
ment of  the  digestive  system  in  the  Infusoria,  seeing  that 
a  man,  a  lion,  or  a  tiger  has  only  one  stomach,  an  ox  or  a 
camel  four  or  five,  whilst  invisible  Microzoa  have  sometimes 
a  hundred ! 


4.  Infusoria  procured  by  Sir  James  Ross  from  the  bottom  of  the  Antarctic  Ocean,  as  seen  \rith 

the  microscope. 

In  proportion  as  science  has  been  perfected  the  horizon 
of  life  has  been  enlarged,  and  a  microscopic  world,  full  of 
animated  existence,  has  been  revealed  in  every  spot  to 
which  investigation  has  been  able  to  reach.  The  Polar  ices, 
the  elevated  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  gloomy 


16 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


depths  of  ocean  are  peopled  with  living  organisms  ;  and 
everywhere  their  prodigious  concentration  astonishes  us  as 
much  as  the  infinite  variety  of  their  forms. 

If  the  beautiful  discoveries  of  Ehrenberg  did  not  prove 
the  fact,  who  would  believe  that  these  tiny  creatures,  so 
minute  as  to  be  invisible,  possess  more  vital  resistance  than 
the  most  vigorous  animals  ?  Where  the  severity  of  the  cli- 
mate kills  the  most  robust  of  the  vegetable  world,  where  a 
few  scattered  animals  pick  up  a  precarious  subsistence,  the 
delicate  organism  of  the  Microzoa  suffers  no  injury  from 
the  most  terrible  cold  that  is  experienced.  More  than  fifty 
species  of  animalcules  with  silicious  carapaces  were  discov- 
ered by  Sir  James  Ross  on  the  rounded  masses  of  ice  which 
float  in  the  Polar  Seas  at  the  seventy-eighth  degree  of 
south  latitude.  Some  of  those  which  this  navigator  col- 
lected in  the  vicinity  of  Victoria  Land,  in  spite  of  distance 
and  storms,  arrived  full  of  vitality  at  Berlin. 

I 


5.  Medusa  campanularia. 

In  these  desolate  regions  the  depths  of  ocean  offer  to  the 
view  even  more  life  than  its  surface.  In  the  Gulf  of  Ere- 
bus, the  plummet  brought  up,  from  a  depth  of  more  than 
1500  feet,  seventy-eight  species  of  silicious  Microzoa;  and 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  17 

they  have  been  discovered  at  a  depth  of  more  than  12,000 
feet,  where  they  had  to  support  the  enormous  pressure  of 
375  atmospheres,  —  a  pressure  capable  of  bursting  a  cannon, 


6.  The  Hydrostatic  Physophora :  Physophora  muzonema. 

but  which  the  gelatinous  body  of  a  microscopic  animal  re- 
sists in  some  marvellous  way. 

These  living  corpuscles,  which  swarm  in  the  transparent 


18  THE   UNIVERSE. 

regions  of  the  ocean,  abound  equally  in  the  muddy  waters 
of  our  rivers  and  ponds,  and  without  being  aware  of  it  we 
daily  swallow  myriads  of  them  in  the  fluids  we  drink.  If, 
with  the  aid  of  the  microscope,  we  were  to  scrutinize  every- 
thing that  a  single  drop  of  water  sometimes  contains,  there 
would  be  seen  enough  to  frighten  many  people. 

Every  one  who  has  sailed  at  night  upon  the  sea,  or  passed 
along  its  shores,  is  acquainted  with  the  phenomenon  of  phos- 
phorescence, which  for  a  long  time  puzzled  the  sagacity  of 
the  learned.  It  was  attributed  to  very  different  causes,  but 
is  now  known  to  depend  upon  the  presence  of  a  multitude 
of  animals.  Sometimes,  when  of  small  extent,  it  is  caused 
by  fish  traversing  the  waves  like  a  flaming  arrow ;  at  other 
times  it  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  Medusae,  the  brilliant 
discs  of  which  are  seen  calm  and  motionless  in  the  depths  of 
the  waters ;  or  to  the  Physophora,  trailing  behind  them 
their  tresses  all  spangled  with  stars  like  those  of  Berenice 
in  the  firmament.  Certain  molluscs  too,  though  enveloped 
in  their  shells,  are  nevertheless  phosphorescent.  Even  Pliny 
remarked  that  the  mouths  of  persons  who  had  eaten  Pho- 
lades  were  quite  luminous. 

This  phenomenon,  however,  is  most  frequently  seen  in 
places  where  the  sea  is  in  movement ;  every  wave  then 
rolls  with  luminous  foam  against  the  prow  of  the  ship,  and 
the  billows  gleam  like  the  starry  sky.  These  myriads  of 
phosphorescent  particles,  which  make  the  sea  sparkle,  are 
only  Microzoa  of  extreme  minuteness,  but  of  which  the  size 
is  increased  a  hundred-fold  by  their  splendor. 

The  ocean  produces  these  animalcules  in  almost  every 
part.  Each  bed  of  it,  says  Humboldt,  is  peopled  with 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  19 

them  at  depths  which  exceed  the  height  of  the  greatest 
mountain  chains,  and  under  the 
influence  of  certain  meteorolog- 
ical changes  we  see  them  rise  to 
the  surface  of  its  watery  ex- 
panse, where  they  form  immense 
luminous  furrows  in  the  wake  of 

tlie    Ships.  7i    The  MUiary  Noctiluca,  highly  mag- 

The  Miliary  Noctiluca   is  one 

of  those  which  play  the  greatest  part  in  the  phospho- 
rescene  of  the  ocean.  Seen  with  the  aid  of  a  powerful  mi- 
croscope, this  minute  animalcule  looks  like  a  tiny  sphere 
of  diaphanous  jelly,  bestrewn  with  luminous  points,  and 
carrying  a  thin  filiform  appendage,  which  some  naturalists 
look  upon  as  a  sucker. 

Water  presents  another  peculiarity  equally  strange,  and 
for  a  long  time  inexplicable.  At  times  it  takes  on  a  blood- 
red  tint,  which  in  every  age  has  startled  and  alarmed  the 
vulgar. 

From  the  remotest  times  men  speculated  upon  the  cause 
of  this  phenomenon,  which  had  so  much  of  the  marvellous 
about  it,  and  it  was  only  explained  on  some  strange  hypoth- 
esis or  other.  But  since  the  discovery  of  the  microscope  it 
has  been  thoroughly  investigated,  and  naturalists  have 
shown  that  the  redness  of  the  water  depends  upon  the  pres- 
ence of  extremely  small  plants  and  animals,  which,  under 
the  influence  of  certain  atmospheric  conditions,  multiply  in 
such  abundance  that  the  mind  can  hardly  realize  the  mar- 
vellous rapidity  with  which  they  spring  into  existence. 

A  Belgian  savant,  M.  Morren,  after  collecting  together 


20  THE   UNIVERSE. 

nearly  all  that  had  been  written  on  the  subject  of  red  water 
from  the  days  of  Moses  up  to  our  own,  gives  a  list  of 
twenty-two  species  of  animals,  and  almost  as  many  plants, 
capable  of  communicating  this  blood  color. 

When  Ehrenberg  planted  his  tent  by  the  shore  of  the 
Red  Sea,  near  the  town  of  Tor,  not  far  from  Mount  Sinai, 
he  had  the  rare  good  fortune  to  behold  this  sea  tinged  with 
the  blood-red  color  to  which,  from  the  remotest  antiquity, 
it  has  owed  its  name.  At  this  very  time  its  waves  deposited 
on  the  shore  a  gelatinous  matter  of  a  beautiful  purple  color, 
which  the  great  Prussian  naturalist  recognized  as  being 
composed  of  a  single  microscopic  marine  plant,  the  Red 
Irichodesmia,  the  sole  cause  of  this  celebrated  phenomenon. 
Water  is  not  the  sole  domain  of  microscopic  animalcules. 

They  are  met  with  in  the 
earth,  in  masses  which  contain 
them  in  such  enormous  num- 
bers as  to  exceed  all  powers 
of  calculation.  Certain  spe- 
cies, so  extremely  minute  as 

8.  The  Red   Trichodesmia    (Trickodesmia  not      to     equal      the     forty-five 
rubra),  seen  under  the  microscope.  ,-•  -1,1  f  r 

thousandth  part   ot   an   inch, 

form  in  some  damp  places  living  beds  beneath  the  soil, 
which  are  often  several  yards  in  thickness. 

In  North  America  these  animal  strata  are  found  as  much 
as  twenty  feet  thick,  and  among  the  heaths  of  Luneburg 
there  are  some  more  than  forty  feet  in  thickness.  The 
city  of  Berlin  is  built  upon  one  of  these  beds  of  animalcules, 
which  is  even  more  than  three  times  the  size  of  the  last 
mentioned.  Everything  here  strikes  us  with  wonder.  The 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  21 

microscopic  creatures  of  which  we  are  speaking  are  so  mi- 
nute that  10,000  could  be  ranged  on  the  length  of  an  inch, 
and  the  weight  of  each  is  scarcely  the  millionth  part  of  a 
milligramme  (.0154  grain),  for  it  has  been  calculated  that  it 
requires  1,111,500,000  to  weigh  a  gramme.1 

Such  a  soil  is  naturally  wanting  in  stability.  This  was 
seen  in  the  capital  of  Prussia,  where  it  became  necessary,  in 
constructing  new  buildings,  to  sink  the  foundations  very 
deep,  several  houses  having  subsided  on  account  of  the  un- 
stable ground  beneath  them.  In  many  other  places  these 
puny  animalcules  swarm  by  myriads  of  myriads,  and  form 
deposits  of  great  size  on  the  superficial  strata  of  the  globe. 
In  his  remarkable  work  on  the  earth,  M.  Elis^e  Reclus 
states  that  in  the  harbor  of  Wismar  the  mud  is  composed 
to  the  extent  of  a  third  part  or  even  a  half  of  living  species 
heaped  together  in  incalculable  multitudes,  at  the  rate  of 
perhaps  a  million  cubic  yards  in  a  century. 

A  traveller  exploring  an  elevated  mountain  is  sometimes 
struck  by  a  singular  phenomenon,  namely,  the  red  color  of 
the  snow.  This  fact,  of  which  Aristotle,  the  prince  of 
naturalists,  long  ago  took  notice,  is  due  to  the  presence  of 
microscopic  organisms ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  circumstance 

1  A  gramme  is  equal  to  15.4440  grains.  These  enormous  masses  of  Infusoria 
are  accounted  for  by  supposing  that  they  are  reproduced  with  miraculous  rapidity 
by  way  of  subdivision.  One  of  these  animalcules  divides  into  two  ;  each  of  these 
quickly  divides  into  two  others  :  in  this  way  four  individuals  are  speedily  formed, 
then  eight,  then  sixteen,  etc.  This  phenomenon  takes  place  with  such  incredible 
rapidity,  that,  according  to  Ehrenberg,  one  of  the  organisms  spoken  of  above  can 
produce  a  million  descendants  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  in  four  days  about  140 
billions ;  that  is  to  say,  nearly  two  cubic  feet  of  the  ground  on  which  part  of  Ber- 
lin stands. 


22  THE   UNIVERSE. 

that  the  same  creature,  the  Discercea  nivalis,  seems  to  pro- 
duce it  everywhere,  —  on  the  icy  summits  of  the  Alps  and 
on  the  snows  of  the  farthest  Polar  regions  to  which  man  has 
penetrated  ;  for  red  snow  is  met  with  even  in  these  frozen 
realms. 


9.  Infusoria  and  Living  Diatomaceae  from  the  Strata  under  Berlin,  as  seen  with  the  micro- 
scope. 

The  pantheists  supposed  life  to  be  disseminated  through 
all  the  interstices  of  matter.  These  microscopic  animal- 
cules recall  this  theory,  as  they  often  abound  where  we 
might  least  expect  to  find  them.  Although  our  enlightened 
age  has  destroyed  the  hypothesis  of  panspermism,  which 
held  that  every  particle  of  creation  contained  germs  or  liv- 
ing organisms,  yet  we  must  admit  that,  though  these  im- 
palpable metaphysical  germs  existed  only  in  the  imagina- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  23 

tion,  there  are  nevertheless  Microzoa  that  float  hither  and 
thither  on  the  bosorn  of  the  atmosphere,  notwithstanding  it 
appears  to  us  so  transparent  and  pure. 

The  invisible  organisms  that  people  the  air  constitute, 
according  to  Hurnboldt,  quite  a  special  fauna.  But  irre- 
spective of  these  meteoric  Infusoria,  the  existence  of  which, 
according  to  this  illustrious  philosopher,  cannot  be  doubted, 
the  atmosphere  carries  an  immense  quantity  of  ordinary 
animalcules,  both  alive  and  dead,  which  its  currents  take  up 
and  transport  to  all  parts  of  the  globe.  Sometimes  they 
abound  to  such  an  extent  in  the  air  as  to  intercept  the 
light  and  suffocate  travellers. 

Ehrenberg,  on  analyzing  a  shower  of  fine  dust  which,  at 
a  distance  of  380  miles  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  enveloped 
vessels  in  a  thick  fog,  found  eighteen  species  of  silicaplated 
animalcules. 

But  microscopic  life  does  not  invade  air,  earth,  and  water 
only.  It  is  met  with  again  full  of  vigor  and  vitality  in  the 
interior  of  animals  and  plants.  No  organ,  however  vigor- 
ous or  well  protected,  can  elude  it.  Not  only  do  animal- 
cules pour  into  every  cavity  of  the  animal  which  is  in  com- 
munication with  the  outer  world,  but  they  are  met  with  in 
parts  closely  sealed  up  from  the  air.  The  complete  system 
of  arteries  and  veins  by  which  the  circulation  of  the  blood 
is  effected,  though  closed  from  the  outer  world  at  every 
point,  nevertheless  at  times  contains  Microzoa  mixed  with 
the  blood  globules,  apparently  living  quite  at  their  ease  in 
the  midst  of  the  incessant  flow  of  the  blood.  Supposing 
that  this  traverses  its  circuit  every  day  more  than  2800 
times,  and  that,  not  taking  account  of  the  capillary  ramifi- 


24  THE    UNIVERSE. 

cations  or  the  bending  of  the  vessels,  this  circuit  is  only 
four  or  five  metres  in  length,  even  then  the  animalcules  are 
borne  on  a  current  which  carries  them  daily  three  leagues, 
—  a  fearful  journey  for  such  frail  organisms  ! 

Man  himself  does  not  imagine  that,  despite  his  pride,  a 
race  of  invisible  beings  incessantly  devours,  and  sometimes 
ends  by  destroying  him.  Vibriones,  resembling  impercep- 
tible tiny  eels,  are  constantly  discovered  in  his  intestines. 
His  mouth  is  always  inhabited  by  myriads  of  animalcules, 
the  microscopic  sepulchre  of  which  is  represented  by  the 
tartar  that  loosens  our  teeth  ;  for,  in  many  cases,  it  is 
formed  of  nothing  else  but  the  incrustations  of  their  cal- 
careous skeletons. 


10.     Trichinae  gnawing  a  Muscle,  magnified  200  diameters. 

Intestinal  worms,  not  larger  than  the  head  of  a  pin,  gath- 
ering in  colonies  in  the  head  of  the  sheep,  occasion  cer- 
tain death.  They  are  the  cause  of  that  complaint  known 
in  our  country  districts  as  staggers,  or  more  generally  as 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  25 

turn-sick,  because  when  they  are  attacked  by  it  they  turn 
round  perpetually.  Innumerable  legions  of  another  worm, 
still  smaller,  invade  all  our  fleshy  structures,  and  sometimes 
multiply  in  them  to  such  an  extent  that  as  many  as  twen- 
ty-five have  been  counted  in  one  of  the  muscles  of  the  ear, 
which  does  not  exceed  a  grain  of.  millet  in  size.1 

This  worm,  which  has  been  a 
great  deal  spoken  about  of  late 
years,    is   the   Trichina   spiralis. 
The  pig  is  its  favorite  abode  ;  but 
it  is  sometimes  seen  in  man,  es- 
pecially where,  as  in  parts  of  the 
United  States  and  Germany,  ham 
and  sausages  are  eaten  raw.   Once    n.  Femaie  Trichina  depositing  her 
introduced  within  the  frame  by       young'  magnitied  60° diaiiieters' 
means  of  the  food,  the  Trichinae  multiply  in  the  intestines, 
and  their  little  ones  invade  the  muscles  to  such  an  extent 
that  as  many  as  six  or  eight  have  been  discovered  in  each 
segment  seen  in  the  field  of  the  microscope.     A  frightful 
death  is  the  result :  we  are  devoured,  still  living,  by  these 
imperceptible  worms,  and  no  human  power  can  arrest  their 
work. 

Thus  the  dominion  of  the  Microzoa  has  no  bounds  but 
immensity  itself. 

1  I  allude  here  to  the  Trichina  spiralis,  a  little  microscopic  worm,  twisted 
spirally,  which  has  occasioned  numerous  fatal  accidents  in  certain  portions  of 
the  United  States  and  in  some  parts  of  Germany.  Physiologists  know  that  it  is 
propagated  by  the  use  of  the  flesh  of  animals  infected  by  it.  In  certain  coun- 
tries, where  there  is  a  suspicion  that  it  is  introduced  within  the  system  by  the 
use  of  raw  pork  as  food,  the  authorities  have  already  begun  to  interdict  the  use 
of  the  latter  article.  This  is  the  case  in  some  parts  of  Prussia. 


26  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE   ANTEDILUVIAN   INFUSOKIA. 

THE  prodigious  abundance  of  the  Infusoria  during  certain 
geological  periods  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  facts 
that  the  study  of  nature  offers.  Although,  according  to  the 
computations  of  Ehrenberg,  there  are  sometimes  more  than 
a  million  of  these  animals  in  a  cubic  inch  of  chalk,  yet  they 
swarmed  in  such  numbers,  and  were  so  miraculously  pro- 
lific, at  the  era  of  this  formation,  that,  in  spite  of  their  ex- 
treme minuteness,  some  stratified  rocks,  entirely  made  up 
of  their  calcareous  shells,  constitute  at  the  present  time 
mountains  which  take  an  important  place  in  the  mineral 
crust  of  the  globe. 

Again,  microscopists  have  recently  made  known  a  wholly 
unexpected  fact.  They  have  shown  that  some  silicious 
rocks,  known  by  the  name  of  tripolis,  and  which  to  all  ap- 
pearance were  homogeneous,  are  almost  exclusively  com- 
posed of  the  skeletons  of  several  species  of  Infusoria  be- 
longing to  the  family  of  Bacillaria.  These  skeletons  have 
so  faithfully  preserved  the  form  of  the  animals  from  which 
they  were  generated,  that  men  have  been  enabled  to  com- 
pare them  with  our  living  species,  and  recognize  that  they 
had  the  closest  analogy  with  these. 

This  remarkable  discovery  is  due  to  Ehrenberg.  He  com- 
municated it  to  Al.  Brongniart  on  the  occasion  of  a  journey 
the  latter  made  to  Berlin.  This  unexpected  revelation  so 
excited  the  illustrious  mineralogist  that  he  wrote  the  fol- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  27 

lowing  words  to  the  Academy  of  Science's :  "  I  have  seen 
all  these  marvels.  I  have  compared  them  with  the  beauti- 
ful drawings  of  living  species  made  by  M.  Ehrenberg,  and 
I  can  no  longer  retain  the  slightest  doubt." 

Thus  it  is  demonstrated  that  rocks  which  belong  to  the 
most  ancient  epochs  of  life  on  our  globe,  and  which  some- 
times contain  strata  of  vast  magnitude,  are  only  so  many 
graveyards  of  the  Infusoria.  The  mind  grows  bewildered 
in  trying  to  find  out  in  what  mysterious  way  these  many 
invisible  animalcules  could  be  accumulated  to  form  such 
extraordinary  heaps  of  corpses. 

The  city  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  is  the  centre  of  one  of 
these  districts,  where,  according  to  the  beautiful  saying 
of  Shelley,  every  grain  of  dust  was  once  endued  with  life. 
The  deposit  of  microscopic  skeletons  attains  a  depth  of  sev- 
eral hundred  yards.  If  as  many  human  mummies  were 
laid  one  upon  another  they  would  form  a  mountain,  the 
height  of  which  would  almost  equal  a  semi-diameter  of  the 
earth  !  (W.  de  Fonvielle.) 

It  is  very  easy  to  verify  these  statements.  The  reader 
has  only  to  scrape  with  a  knife  the  surface  of  a  morsel  of 
one  of  these  tripolis,  to  let  the  dust  fall  on  a  plate  of  glass, 
and  to  examine  it  with  the  microscope  after  having  mixed 
it  with  a  little  water.  He  will  be  astonished  to  see  noth- 
ing but  carapaces  of  animalcules. 

The  confirmation  of  what  we  have  said  is  chiefly  met 
with  in  the  tripoli  of  Bilin  in  Bohemia,  and  in  those  of  the 
Isle  of  France. 

The  learned  Schleiden  calculated  that  a  cubic  inch  of  the 
former  contains,  in  round  numbers,  41,000,000  of  animal- 


28  THE   UNIVERSE. 

cules,  and  as  the  schists  of  Bilin  extend  over  a  surface  of 
not  less  than  eight  to  ten  square  leagues,  and  are  from  two 
to  fifteen  feet  thick,  what  an  amount  of  vital  activity  there 
must  have  been  in  this  region  to  produce  such  a  mass  of 
imperceptible  skeletons  ! 


12.  Infusoria  in  Tripoli,  from  Richmond,  Virginia,  as  seen  with  the  microscope. 

Some  tripolis  of  a  red  color  are  employed  in  house-paint- 
ing ;  others  serve  for  cleaning  our  plate,  dish-covers,  etc. 
A  few  years  ago  people  little  thought  that  the  rose-color 
with  which  we  decorate  our  dwellings  was  due  to  the  skel- 
etons of  invisible  animalcules,  and  that  it  was  they  which, 
from  their  silicious  nature,  enabled  us  to  give  a  beautiful 
polish  to  so  many  articles  of  copper.  It  is  with  the  osseous 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  29 

structures  of  myriads  of  animals  that  we  scour  our  cooking 
utensils ! 

Not  only  do  the  Infusoria  enter  into  the  composition  of 


13.  Skeletons  of  Silicious  Infusoria,  seen  under  the  microscope. 

the  porous  rocks,  but  we  meet  with  them  even  in  the  most 
compact  that  are  known,  such  as  the  silex,  which  forms  our 
hardest  pebbles  and  gun-flints.  Mr.  White,  in  a  memoir 
read  before  the  Microscopical  Society  of  London,  described 
twelve  species  in  the  flint  of  the  chalk. 

The  miraculous  abundance  of  this  once  living  dust  in  the 
ancient  epochs  of  our  globe  is  fully  shown  in  the  coloring 
of  certain  rocks.  According  to  Marcel  de  Serre,  rock-salt, 
which  is  sometimes  tinged  with  red,  owes  its  tint  to  the 
microscopic  animals  which  lived  in  the  waters  wherein  it 
was  formed.  This  savant  also  tells  us  that  cornelians  owe 
their  beautiful  red  color  to  the  presence  of  Infusoria,  —  a 
fact  irrefragably  proved  by  an  inspection  of  some  of  these 
stones  embedded  in  which  the  skeletons  of  different  ani- 
malcules can  be  discovered. 


30  THE    UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  III. 

FOSSIL   MEAL   AND   THE    EARTH-EATERS. 

IN  several  parts  of  the  world  the  dearth  of  sources  of 
food  compels  men  to  nourish  themselves  with  certain  kinds 
of  earth  which  actually  possess  a  nutritive  power. 

Travellers  are  too  unanimous  on  this  point  to  allow  of  our 
doubting  it.  The  fact  too  was  known  at  a  far  more  distant 
epoch  than  is  generally  supposed,  for  it  is  mentioned  in  the 
old  and  curious  book  of  Naude  in  the  defence  of  the  great 
men  accused  of  magic.  It  is  there  said  that  certain  earths 
of  the  valley  of  Hebron  are  good  to  eat. 

Towards  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  the  Ottomacs,  at  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year,  nourish  themselves  to  a  great  ex- 
tent with  a  fat  ferruginous  clay,  of  which  they  consume  as 
much  as  a  pound  and  a  half  a  day.  Spix  and  Martius  say 
that  a  similar  custom  is  found  on  the  banks  of  the  Amazon ; 
and  those  learned  travellers  relate  that  the  natives  there 
eat  this  earth  even  when  there  is  no  lack  of  more  nutri- 
tive food.  We  know  also  that  an  edible  clay  is  sold  in 
the  markets  of  Bolivia ;  and  lastly,  Gliddon  assures  us  that 
there  are  a  tolerably  large  number  of  earth-eating  tribes 
in  North  America,  mentioning  in  particular  the  negroes 
of  the  Carolinas  and  Florida. 

Naturalists,  struck  with  these  accounts,  were  eager  to 
make  out  the  composition  of  these  edible  earths,  and  to 
their  astonishment  discovered  that  some  of  them  were  noth- 
ing else  than  different  kinds  of  tripolis,  or  clays,  containing 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  31 

a  considerable  number  of  fresh-water  Infusoria  or  micro- 
scopic shells.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  these  alimentary 
rocks  owe  their  nutritive  properties  to  animal  matter  which 


14.  Microscopic  view  of  Infusoria  in  mountain-meal  of  Ebsdorf.1 

they  have  retained,  and  that  it  is  this  which  renders  them 
of  any  value  as  food. 

But  the  revolutions  of  the  earth  have  not  stopped  here ; 

1  In  Europe  the  most  celebrated  deposits  of  mountain-meal  are  those  of  Lap- 
land, of  Degerna  and  Lollhagysyb'n  in  Sweden,  of  Ebsdorf  in  the  Luneburg 
Heath,  and  of  Santafiora  in  Tuscany.  Smaller  deposits  are  found  in  Greece, 
Hungary,  Bohemia,  France,  and  elsewhere.  I  myself  discovered  one  in  1846  at 
Louie,  in  South  Portugal.  Many  of  these  accumulations  of  mountain-meal  are  of 
great  importance  to  man,  being  mixed  with  common  meal  and  used  as  food,  though 
the  substance  possesses  no  conceivable  alimentary  properties.  In  Europe  it  is 
only  the  mountain-meal  of  Lapland  and  Sweden  that  is  so  used.  Of  the  moun- 
tain-meal of  Lollhagysyon,  for  example,  there  are  every  year  many  hundred  wag- 


32  THE   UNIVKRSE. 

they  have  now  and  then  produced  a  perfect  fossilized  ani- 
mal meal.  Nothing  more  is  required  than  to  make  it  into 
bread.  In  fact,  it  is  well  known  that  in  times  of  dearth 
the  Laplanders  nourish  themselves  with  a  white  mineral 
dust,  which  they  substitute  for  cereal  products.  Retzius, 
who  examined  this  meal,  found  that  it  is  composed  of  nine- 
teen species  of  Infusoria,  analogous  to  those  which  now 
live  in  the  neighborhood  of  Berlin ;  and  the  learned  pro- 
fessor has  even  shown  that  this  skeleton  dust,  which  is 
spread  equally  through  Finland  and  Sweden,  owes  its  nutri- 
tive qualities  to  a  certain  amount  of  animal  substance,  which 
chemical  analysis  detected  after  so  many,  many  ages  ! 

Thus  modern  science  throws  her  vivid  light  upon  a  crowd 
of  facts  which  till  our  day  remained  hidden  in  darkness. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CITIES    BUILT    OF   MICROSCOPIC    SHELLS. 

IN  following  our  studies  progressively,  if  we  pass  from 
organisms  so  small  as  absolutely  to  escape  the  eye  to  those 
the  shell  of  which  approaches  a  pin's  head  in  size,  we  see 

on-loads  consumed.  Many  of  these  deposits  are  especially  interesting  on  this 
account,  that  their  upper  beds  consist  of  diatoms  that  are  still  living.  To  this 
class  belong  the  deposit  not  far  from  Ebsdorf,  in  the  Luneburg  Heath,  which  is 
about  thirty  feet  in  thickness,  and,  according  to  Ehrenberg,  is  composed  of  some 
thirty  different  species  of  diatoms.  The  prevailing  species  is,  however,  Synedra 
acuta,  whose  hard  coverings  appear  in  the  form  of  long  ladder-like  bodies.  Next 
to  it  the  most  conspicuous  are  Pinnularia  incequalis  (the  crooked,  ship-formed 
bodies,  marked  with  cross-lines),  and  Gallionella  varians  (the  large  round  discs). 
—  Willkomm,  Die  Wunder  des  Mikroskops. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


33 


15.  Magnified  Miliola,  with  its  Capillary  Appendages 
projected. 


that  these  latter  have  determined  the  occurrence  of  geo- 
logical phenomena  of  immense  extent  and  importance. 

This  is  the  case  with  the  Miliolse,  little  shells  which  owe 
their  name  to  the  fact 
that  their  size  does  not 
exceed  that  of  a  grain 
of  millet,  and  indeed  is 
often  less.  They  were 
so  numerous  in  the  an- 
cient seas  of  the  Paris 
basin  that  in  settling 
down  they  formed 
mountains,  which  are 
now  quarried  to  build  our  towns  :  the  greatest  part  of  the 
stone  in  the  houses  of  Paris  is  composed  simply  of  the  cara- 
paces of  these  molluscs  agglomerated  and  closely  cemented 
together ;  so  that  one  may  say  without  hyperbole  that 
our  splendid  capital  is  built  of  microscopic  shells. 

An  observation  by  M.  Defrance  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
minuteness  of  the  Stone  Miliola,  the  species  which  prin- 
cipally constitutes  the  coarse  limestone  used  in  building. 
He  has  computed  that  a  box  with  a  capacity  of  a  cubic  line 
would  contain  as  many  as  ninety-six ! 

What  a  mystery  envelops  the  life  of  these  fragile  shells, 
which,  in  spite  of  their  insignificant  size,  have  played  such 
a  great  part  in  the  geologic  phenomena  of  the  tertiary 
epoch !  Nature  here  reveals  her  infinite  power  by  regain- 
ing, through  prodigious  fecundity,  what  she  loses  in  bulk. 
Hence,  as  Lamarck  has  said,  the  vestiges  of  some  micro- 
scopic creatures  have  had  more  influence  upon  the  crust  of 

3 


34 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


the  globe  than  those  of  such  huge  animals  as  elephants, 
rhinoceroses,  and  whales. 

We  have  seen  certain  invisible  organisms  and  microscopic 


16.  1,  Rock  of  the  Arabian  Chain  formed  by  agglomerated  Nummulites  used  for  building 
the  Pyramids  of  Egypt;  2,  3,  Interior  View  of  Nummulites;  4,  Nummulites  from  the 
Libyan  Chain,  of  which  the  Sphinx  is  exclusively  composed. 

shells  produce  great  stratified  rocks.  If  we  now  examine 
other  molluscs  of  the  same  group  as  the  latter,  but  some- 
what larger,  the  nummulites,  we  are  still  more  astonished 
at  the  vast  phenomena  to  which  they  have  given  rise. 
These  phenomena  include  the  formation  of  long  and  lofty 
chains  of  mountains. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  37 

These  nummulites  receive  their  name  from  their  flattened 
discoidal  form,  which  resembles  that  of  a  piece  of  money, 
in  Latin  nummulus.  Many  of  these  shells  are  very  small ; 
others  attain  the  size  of  a  lentil,  a  seed  which  they  often 
resemble  exactly. 

The  nummulites,  then,  have  played  a  great  part  at  dif- 
ferent geological  epochs.  They  are  met  with  in  prodigious 
quantities  in  the  secondary  and  tertiary  beds,  and  they 
abounded  to  such  an  extent  in  the  seas  which  overflowed 
some  of  our  continents  that  their  shells,  being  heaped  to- 
gether, have  formed  elevations  of  remarkable  extent. 

These  shells,  extending  over  a  vast  area,  really  constitute 
the  Arabian  chain  which  extends  along  the  Nile.  There 
they  are  so  numerous,  and  heaped  up  in  such  a  manner, 
that  there  is  scarcely  any  matrix  to  bind  them  together. 
In  many  regions  of  Upper  Egypt  which  I  have  traversed, 
the  soil  of  the  desert  consists  entirely  of  a  thick  bed  of 
nummulites,  in  which  the  feet  of  the  travellers  and  their 
camels  slip  and  sink  deep  at  every  step. 

Paris  is,  as  we  have  said,  built  solely  of  shells  ;  this  is 
also  the  case  with  the  Sphinx  and  the  celebrated  Pyramids 
of  Egypt.  The  immense  blocks  composing  the  latter, 
neither  the  transportation  nor  the  raising  of  which  to  such 
a  vast  height  has  been  well  explained,  were  brought  from 
the  Arabian  chain,  and  are  composed  solely  of  nummulites. 
Many  of  these  exactly  resemble  lentils  in  their  form  and 
size,  and  this  coincidence  has  given  rise  to  strange  mistakes. 
Time,  wearing  down  the  surface  of  these  gigantic  monu- 
ments, has  gathered  enormous  masses  at  their  bases,  where 
they  impede  the  footsteps  of  the  traveller.  In  the  time  of 


38  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Strabo  it  was  maintained  that  these  were  the  remains  of 
seeds  used  as  food  by  the  ancient  workmen,  who  had  aban- 
doned them,  and  which  had  fossilized  by  the  action  of  time. 
But  the  Greek  geographer  refuted  this  vulgar  tradition, 
and  in  his  description  of  Egypt  he  classes  the  nummulites 
among  the  petrifactions,  calling  to  mind  that  in  his  own 


,  ;*§fe"~ 


*JvV\ 


18.  Gigantic  Tridacna,  used  in  the  Moluccas  as  a  Bathing-Tub. 

country,  Pontus,  there  were  hills  full  of  tuff  stones  similar 
to  lentils. 

Having  spoken  of  microscopic  shells,  we  now  proceed  to 
speak  of  some  colossal  ones. 

One  of  these  in  particular  has  acquired  a  certain  celebrity 
on  account  of  its  size  and  the  peculiar  use  to  which  it  has 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  39 

been  put.  It  is  the  gigantic  Tridacna,  commonly  known 
as  the  "  holy-water  pot/'  because  it  is  sometimes  employed 
in  churches  to  contain  the  consecrated  water.  But  those 
which  we  see  are  far  from  giving  us  an  idea  of  the  animal. 
The  great  Tridacnge,  which  can  only  be  detached  from  the 
rocks  by  cutting  the  fibrous  mass  that  fastens  them  with 
an  axe,  sometimes  weigh  more  than  five  hundred  pounds. 
In  the  archipelago  of  the  Molucca  Islands  these  concholog- 
ical  giants  are  not  rare.  The  natives  eat  them  like  our 
oysters,  to  which  they  are  analogous,  and  the  flesh  of  one 
is  a  sufficient  meal  for  twenty  people.  Their  thick  valves, 
which  are  sometimes  five  feet  long,  serve  as  troughs  for  the 
inhabitants,  presented  by  nature  ready  cut  and  polished, 
and  which,  according  to  Peron,  they  often  use  for  feeding 
pigs  and  other  animals.  Sometimes  also  they  convert  them 
into  baths  for  their  children. 

Some  of  those  fossil  shells,  so  well  known  under  the 
name  of  ammonites,  were  of  even  more  gigantic  propor- 
tions. Buffon  speaks  of  one,  the  diameter  of  which  was 
equal  to  that  of  a  carriage-wheel,  and  which  was  used  for 
a  millstone. 

Finally,  if  the  abysses  of  the  sea  do  not  harbor  the  mon- 
sters with  which  the  imagination  of  some  chroniclers  has 
peopled  them,  we  certainly  sometimes  discover  in  the  ocean 
molluscs  of  prodigious  dimensions,  the  fleshy  mass  of  which 
is  not  less  than  from  sixteen  to  twenty  feet  in  length,  with- 
out reckoning  the  arms  which  crown  the  head.  Such  was 
the  cuttle-fish  (Sepia)  which  the  steamer  Alecton  met  in 
1861  between  Madeira  and  the  Canary  Islands.  Its  weight 
was  estimated  at  4414  Ibs.  avoirdupois,  but  the  crew  could 


40  THE    UNIVERSE. 

not  attack  it  vigorously  enough  to  capture  it,  as  Captain 
Bouyer  was  afraid  it  might  upset  the  boats,  by  clasping  them 

in  its  formidable  limbs  armed 
with  suckers.  This  encounter 
strongly  impressed  the  captain, 
and  led  him  to  end  his  narrative 

19.  Fossil  Ammonites.  with    these  WOrds  :  — 

"  Now  that  I  have  seen  this  strange  animal  with  my  own 
eyes  I  can  no  longer  refuse  credence  to  the  tales  of  navi- 
gators. I  suspect  the  sea  has  not  yet  told  all  it  has  to 
tell,  and  holds  in  reserve  some  remnants  of  its  perished 
races ;  or  that,  in  its  ever  active  crucible,  it  still  elaborates 
unheard-of  forms,  with  which  it  may  appall  the  mariner,  and 
supply  a  theme  for  mysterious  legends  of  the  ocean." 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   MONAD. 

WHAT  a  mysterious  abyss  is  expressed  by  this  single  word 
monad  !  This  first  expression  of  creative  power  is  only  re- 
vealed to  us  by  the  microscope,  and  we  still  only  perceive 
it  as  a  mass,  for  the  individual  monads  often  escape  our 
sight.  The  extreme  minuteness  of  the  monad  seems  to 
point  it  out  as  an  element  of  the  most  hidden  phenomena 
of  life.  How  often  have  philosophers  looked  upon  animal 
life  of  the  highest  order  as  being  merely  the  representative 
of  an  agglomeration  of  monads ! 

These  minute  beings  were  looked  upon  by  Buffon  and 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  41 

some  other  naturalists  as  organic  molecules,  the  agglomera- 
tion of  which,  presided  over  by  fixed  laws,  contributed  to 
the  formation  of  plants  and  animals.  After  the  time  of  the 
immortal  overseer  of  the  Jardin  du  Roi,  Oken  upheld  the 
same  opinion,  maintaining  that  large  animals  were  aggre- 
gates of  monads ;  an  idea  which,  as  the  reader  will  perceive, 
seems  to  be  only  a  repetition  of  the  famous  hypothesis  of 
atoms,  which  we  owe  to  Leucippus,  which,  after  having 
flourished  in  antiquity,  is  seen  shedding  its  latest  gleams  of 
light  upon  the  writings  of  Kepler  and  Descartes.1 

These  monads,  which  are  simply  living  atoms,  are  so  ex- 
tremely small  that  they  can  only  be  seen  by  the  help  df 
the  greatest  magnifying  power. 
They  are  met  with  in  all  kinds 
of  animal  and  vegetable  infu- 
sions, and  their  number  is  often 
so  prodigious  that  they  all  seem 
to  touch  each  other  in  the  drop 
of  liquid  in  which  they  move  ; 
it  is  astonishing  to  see  that  they 
do  not  stifle  one  another.  A 

,        ,  ..  ,     .  20.  Monads. 

single  drop  sometimes  contains 

more  of  them  than  there  are  inhabitants  upon  the  globe. 
These  animalcules  are  often  mere  shells,  and  show  no  in- 
ternal organization  ;  but  in  some  of  them  Ehrenberg  re- 

1  The  supporters  of  the  famous  atomic  system,  which  played  such  a  great  part 
in  both  ancient  and  modern  philosophy,  maintained  that  the  ceaseless  production 
of  planets  and  of  all  the  living  creatures  on  them  was  due  to  the  fortuitous  con- 
course of  atoms.  Leucippus,  and  even  more  Epicurus,  brought  this  system  into 
vogue.  Though  defended  by  Kepler,  Descartes,  and  Gassendi,  modern  science 
has  completely  overthrown  it. 


42  THE   UNIVERSE. 

marked  a  number  of  stomachs,  like  little  elongated  sacks, 
opening  into  a  common  mouth.  In  others,  a  long  movable 
filament  is  seen. 

We  need  not  remark  here  that  these  animalcules,  which 
are  complex  creatures,  have  no  connection  with  the  imper- 
ceptible monads  that  played  so  great  a  part  in  philosophy, 
from  Epicurus  down  to  Leibnitz,  and  which  the  latter,  in 
his  "  Monadology,"  defined  as  a  simple  substance,  which  has 
neither  extent,  figure,  nor  capability  of  being  divided ;  rep- 
resenting only  the  atoms  of  nature  or  the  elements  of 
things. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

RESURRECTIONS  :     THE   PIKENIX   AND   PALINGENESIS. 

SOME  naturalists  would  fain  transport  themselves  back  to 
the  last  century,  —  they  must  have  something  of  the  mar- 
vellous. They  accept  without  hesitation  the  charming  little 
histories  with  which  the  rhetorical  physiologists  of  that  day 
embellished  their  epistolary  correspondence,  in  which  gen- 
ius and  hyperbole  predominated  by  turns.  Now  that  the 
precision  of  our  instruments  has  rendered  our  observations 
a  hundred-fold  more  exact,  these  savants  still  obstinately 
persist  in  carrying  us  back  to  an  epoch  at  which  experi- 
ment had  barely  escaped  from  its  swaddling  clothes. 

Some  believe,  with  the  Abbe's  Spallanzani  and  Fontana, 
that  mummies  can  be  resuscitated  ! 

To  others  the  legend  of  the  phoenix  is  still  a  reality : 
they  believe  that  certain  Infusoria  are  incombustible. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  43 

The  following  experiment  was  made  at  Paris.  A  zoolo- 
gist placed  on  the  bulb  of  a  thermometer  some  earth  con- 
taining a  certain  number  of  little  microscopic  animals  called 
tardigrades,  on  account  of  the  extreme  slowness  and  awk- 
wardness of  their  gait.  The  instrument  was  then  thrust 
into  a  stove,  arid  when  the  mercury  rose  from  293°  to  306° 
Fahr.  the  thermometer  was  withdrawn.  Afterwards,  by 
using  proper  measures,  the  animalcules  which  were  found 
on  the  bulb  were  brought  back  to  life. 

All  present  concluded  from  this  experiment  that  the  tar- 
digrades were  almost  incombustible,  and  that  they  miracu- 
lously resisted  a  temperature  as  high  as  306°  Fahr.1 

The  miracle  of  these  modern  children  of  the  furnace  has 
lessened  in  proportion  as  it  has  been  more  studied,  just  as 
the  stature  of  the  Patagonians  has  diminished  since  men 
have  seen  more  of  them. 

The  tardigrades  had,  it  is  true,  been  plunged  into  a  stove 
heated  from  293°  to  306°  Fahr.  But  if  they  issued  from  it 
alive,  it  was  because  their  bodies  had  never  in  reality  been 
subjected  to  this  burning  heat,  which  would  have  been 
enough  to  coagulate  their  fluids  and  dry  up  all  the  sources  of 
life.  The  thermometer,  being  extremely  sensitive,  quickly 
took  on  the  temperature  of  the  medium  into  which  it  had 
been  plunged,  but  the  earth  which  lay  upon  it,  being  a  bad 
conductor  of  heat,  never  reached  this  temperature  by  a 

1  The  experiments  of  which  we  are  speaking  here  were  made  in  1841,  in  the 
presence  of  Messrs  de  Jussieu,  Dumas,  Milne-Edwards,  and  Quatrefages. 

It  has  been  clearly  shown  in  the  present  day  that  they  were  entirely  erro- 
neous, for  the  Biological  Society,  in  their  celebrated  experiments,  never  saw  a 
single  tardigrade  resuscitated  after  being  subjected  to  a  temperature  of  only 
212°  Fahr. 


44  THE    UNIVERSE. 

long  way.     This  is  the  explanation  of  what  appeared  so 

marvellous. 

We  sometimes  see  at  our  fairs  fire-proof  conjurers,  but 

everybody  knows  that  our  power  of  resisting  fire  is  very 

limited.  Physiologists  cite 
the  statement  of  M.  Ber- 
ger,  who  saw  a  man  remain 
seven  minutes  in  a  stove 
heated  to  228°  Fahr. ;  that 
is  to  say,  who  supported  a 
heat  16°  Fahr.  higher  than 
if  he  had  been  plunged  into 
a  tub  of  boiling  water.  A 
young  girl  mentioned  by 

21    Animals  alleged  to  be  capable  of  Resuscita-    another    sayant    resisted    for 
tion.    A,  Tardigrade;   B,  Rotifer;  c,  Anguil- 

lula-  ten  minutes  a  heat  of  294° 

Fahr.  I  witnessed  a  still  more  extraordinary  feat.  During 
one  of  my  visits  to  England,  I  saw  a  man  walk  for  several 
minutes  in  a  long  tunnel  of  fire,  which  looked  like  the  most 
formidable  flaming  furnace  one  can  imagine.1 

1  The  person  mentioned  above  performed  his  experiments  publicly  at  London, 
in  Cremorne  Gardens.  He  walked  quietly  through  a  long  tunnel  of  fire,  arranged 
in  the  form  of  a  cross,  and  having  an  opening  at  the  end  of  each  of  its  arms. 
This  tunnel,  formed  of  a  solid  trellis  work  of  iron,  the  roof  of  which  rose  a  little 
above  the  head  of  the  performer,  was  covered  with  a  heap  of  resinous  wood. 
The  human  salamander  began  his  promenade  beneath  this  at  the  time  when  the 
whole  affair  was  a  complete  furnace,  the  flames  of  which  rose  to  a  considerable 
height,  and  the  heat  of  which  compelled  us  to  keep  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  it. 

The  garments  of  this  incombustible  being  seemed  to  be  of  coarse  cloth,  and  at 
the  time  when  he  entered  the  furnace  they  showed  a  vermilion  red.  But  when 
he  came  out  for  the  first  time  I  was  surprised  to  see  that  they  had  become  as 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  45 

The  case  of  the  tardigrades  was  similar  in  the  famous 
experiment.  Like  the  persons  we  have  spoken  of,  if  they 
issued  living  from  their  stove  at  306°  Fahr.,  it  was  because 
its  heat  had  never  reached  them,  or  it  would  infallibly  have 
burned  them. 

Garments  skilfully  prepared  preserve  the  conjurers  from 
the  fatal  heat,  to  which  they  only  expose  themselves  in  ap- 
pearance ;  in  the  case  of  the  tardigrades  the  earth  took  the 
place  of  the  clothes.  As  the  learned  Ehrenberg  said,  with 
great  reason,  sand  and  moss  guarantee  animalcules  as  com- 
pletely against  desiccation  as  a  thick  woollen  mantle  pro- 
tects the  Arab  from  the  burning  heat  of  the  sun. 

This  brief  account  will  suffice  to  overthrow  completely 
the  incombustibility  of  the  tardigrades ;  reason  rejects  and 
experiment  condemns  it. 

But  some  have  displayed  even  a  greater  fondness  for  res- 
urrections, which  would  indeed  be  still  more  marvellous. 

This  phenomenon  was  the  great  attraction  of  an  entire 
generation  ;  our  fathers  diverted  themselves  with  it,  and 
learned  men  played  on  the  credulity  of  their  pupils  by 
means  of  it.  Spallanzani  and  Bonnet  refer  to  it  in  their 
correspondence  again  and  again  :  the  former  even  headed 
one  of  the  chapters  in  his  great  work  "  Animals  which  can 
be  Killed  and  Resuscitated  at  Pleasure,"  a  title  which  did 
not  fail  to  attract  his  readers,  and  stimulate  their  curiosity 
to  the  highest  pitch. 

white  as  snow.  The  head  of  the  experimenter  was  protected  by  a  thick  helmet 
furnished  with  glass  eyes,  and  he  seemed  to  carry  in  the  folds  of  his  dress  an 
apparatus  for  yielding  fresh  air,  by  means  of  which  he  breathed  in  the  midst  of 
a  combustion  so  intense  that  one  entirely  lost  sight  of  him. 


46  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Nevertheless,  Spallanzani  seems  at  times  to  have  had 
serious  doubts  on  the  subject  of  revivification,  for  in  one 
part  of  his  writings  he  speaks  of  it  as  constituting  the,  most 
paradoxical  truth  that  the  history  of  the  animal  kingdom 
offers  us,  and  that  we  cannot  manifest  too  much  dread  of,  or 
be  too  suspicious  about,  truths  of  this  kind,  —  a  very  sen- 
sible remark. 

This  strange  and  thrilling  question  aroused  men's  pas- 
sions strongly,  and  we  may  safely  say  that  for  a  whole  cen- 
tury it  kept  up  a  desperate  war  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
scientific  world.  Illustrious  names  figured  in  both  camps, 
and  a  full  peace  has  not  yet  been  signed. 

At  first  there  was  a  great  rage  in  favor  of  the  resurrec- 
tionists. The  Abbe  Spallanzani,  who  resolutely  moved  in 
the  van,  braving  the  opposition  and  thunders  of  the  Vati- 
can, made  numerous  proselytes,  and  experimented  openly. 
On  the  contrary,  Fontana,  one  of  his  adherents,  was  more 
timid,  and  with  great  reason  recoiled  before  the  conse- 
quences which  must  naturally  follow  resurrection.  He  only 
experimented  in  darkness  and  concealment,  with  some  con- 
fidential friends  who  went  to  Florence.  "  He  dare  not 
write  upon  the  subject,"  said  the  intellectual  Dupaty;  "he 
fears  being  excommunicated.  All  the  power  of  the  grand 
duke  could  not  save  him." 

In  fact,  materialism  rears  its  head  behind  these  resurrec- 
tions. Is  not  the  restoration  of  life  to  a  dead  being,  by 
making  it  imbibe  a  little  water,  subordinating  existence  to 
chemico-physical  powers  ?  Is  it  not  the  greatest  height  of 
heresy  that  it  would  be  possible  to  profess  ? 

The  revolting  paradox  upheld  by  Spallanzani  did  not  al- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  47 

low  his  conscience  to  be  quite  at  rest,  and  he,  a  prey  to 
doubt  and  remorse,  seems  as  if  he  wanted  to  justify  him- 
self. "An  animal,"  he  says,  and  the  illustrious  abbe  never 
spoke  with  more  reason,  "  which  revives  after  3eath,  and 
revives  as  often  as  one  will,  is  a  phenomenon  so  unheard  of 
that  it  appears  improbable  and  paradoxical ;  it  confuses  all 
our  ideas  of  animal  life." 

Ancient  credulity  was  wiser  than  modern  science.  Pliny 
said  that  the  phoenix  only  revived  once ;  our  modern  palin- 
genesists  maintain  that  they  can  repeat  the  revival  of  the 
Rotifera  as  often  as  they  like ! 

Three  classes  of  animalcules  have  especially  acquired  ce- 
lebrity in  the  annals  of  the  resurrectionists.  These  are  first 
of  all  the  Rotifera,  after  them  the  Tardigrades,  and  then 
the  Anguillulse  of  our  roofs. 

The  first  are  really  very  curious  microscopic  animals. 
They  are  recognized  at  the  first  glance  by  two  structures 
like  discs,  which  they  protrude  in  front  of  their  bodies,  and 
the  ciliated  borders  of  which  closely  resemble  little  toothed 
wheels  in  movement.  From  this  they  are  called  Rotifera, 
or  "wheel-bearing  animals."  They  live  in  great  numbers 
in  the  mosses  which  fasten  themselves  to  the  old  tiles  on 
our  roofs.  There  their  existence  is  subjected  to  a  host  of 
changes.  When  it  is  damp  and  the  soil  is  steeped  with 
water,  rendered  tepid  by  the  warmth,  the  Rotifera  are 
active  and  lively,  running  about  everywhere  to  seek  their 
food.  But  when  a  powerful  sun  heats  the  roof  and  dries 
the  mosses,  they  remain  shrivelled  up  so  long  as  this  state 
of  things  lasts,  contracting  themselves  like  a  ball,  and  re- 
main in  this  condition,  perfectly  inanimate,  till  the  rain  re- 
vives them. 


48  THE    UNIVERSE. 

This  kind  of  life,  by  compelling  the  animals  to  rest  for  a 
considerable  while  contracted  and  motionless,  has  induced 
the  belief  that  they  die  at  such  times.  This  impression  was 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  so  soon  as  ever  they  are 
placed  in  a  drop  of  water  they  swell,  recover  animation,  and 
again  take  on  an  active  existence.  This  very  simple  fact 
the  believers  in  palingenesis  looked  upon  as  a  resurrection. 
But  this  pretended  revival  is  only  the  same  phenomenon  as 
is  exhibited  by  the  snail,  which,  when  placed  in  a  dry  spot, 
buries  itself  in  its  shell  till  a  little  moisture  is  imparted 
to  it. 

It  has  been  maintained  that  the  rotifer  when  shrivelled 
up  is  absolutely  devoid  of  moisture,  but  this  is  not  the  case. 
When  it  is  thoroughly  dried  it  never  recovers. 

The  prestige  of  these  resurrections  was  fated  to  vanish  in 
the  laboratory  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  at  Rouen. 
Many  of  my  pupils  joined  with  me  in  bringing  back  science 
to  rational  views.  Professor  Pennetier,  by  his  memorable 
labors,  proved  that  the  Anguillulse  do  not  revive.  M.  Tinel 
did  the  same  with  the  Tardigrades,  and  I  myself  as  far  as 
regards  the  Rotifers.1  However,  although  faith  in  palingen- 

1  Dr.  Pennetier,  in  a  series  of  valuable  observations,  has  proved  the  complete 
absurdity  of  resurrections  in  general.  In  his  special  experiments  upon  the 
Anguillulae  he  noticed  that,  so  far  from  supporting  complete  desiccation,  they 
succumbed  at  a  heat  of  158°  Fahr.  M.  Tinel,  professor  of  physiology  at  the  Med- 
ical School  of  Rouen,  disproved  the  revival  of  the  tardigrades  by  showing  that 
these  animals  perish  at  a  temperature  below  177°  Fahr.,  and  consequently  long 
before  they  reached  complete  desiccation.  Lastly,  we  ourselves,  in  a  long  series 
of  experiments,  demonstrated  that  the  resurrection  of  the  rotifers  does  not  take 
place  at  all,  and  that  they  are  only  resuscitated  when  they  were  not  dead.  Des- 
iccation carried  to  194°  Fahr.  infallibly  kills  them. 

In  consequence  of  our  experiments,  the  Biological  Society  also  undertook  a  se- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  49 

esis  has  faded  before  exact  experiment,  we  must  admit  that 
the  Rotifera  possess  an  extraordinary  and  almost  prodig- 
ious vital  power  of  resistance.  In  mould  which  has  been 
kept  two  or  three  years,  they  can  be  seen  lengthening  and 
recovering  animation  when  they  are  placed  in  contact  with 
a  few  drops  of  water. 

Many  other  animals  exhibit  a  vitality  not  less  remarkable 
than  that  of  the  Rotifera.  However,  as  they  are  too  large 
to  impose  upon  us  in  this  way,  it  is  not  averred  that  they 
resuscitate,  but  that  they  can  go  several  years  without  eat- 
ing. Sundry  molluscs  of  the  snail  tribe  hold  this  position, 
owing  to  the  facility  with  which  they  bury  and  shelter 
themselves  in  their  shells. 

Pupae,  left  forgotten  in  a  box,  have  remained  there  four 
years,  clinging  to  the  walls  in  all  the  immobility  of  death, 
and  have  been  released  from  their  torpor  and  recalled  to 
life  by  giving  them  a  little  nourishment.  But  the  resurrec- 

ries  in  order  to  verify  the  exactness  of  our  assertions.  Every  time  they  conducted 
the  experiments  with  the  precision  which  we  first  introduced  into  science,  it  was 
found  that  not  one  animalcule  could  be  revived.  It  is  true  that  in  one  experiment 
the  members  of  this  society  succeeded  in  bringing  a  few  rotifers  to  life  again, 
after  having  exposed  them  for  several  minutes  to  a  temperature  of  212°  Fahr.,  a 
temperature  which  had  been  regarded  as  sufficient  to  produce  complete  desicca- 
tion of  these  animalcules.  But  in  this  solitary  case  they  only  attained  this  result 
by  violating  the  rigorous  mode  of  experiment  which  I  look  upon  as  an  indispensa- 
ble element,  for  they  caused  a  sudden  rise  in  the  thermometer  of  72°  Fahr. 

The  charge  I  make  against  M.  Broca,  the  learned  author  of  a  report  on  this 
subject,  is  that  of  not  having  plainly  said,  as  he  ought  to  have  done,  that  the  tar- 
digrades,  which  he  never  saw  resist  a  heat  of  212°  Fahr.,  and  the  Anguillulae, 
which  perish  at  a  much  lower  temperature,  ought  to  be  struck  out  of  the  list  of 
animals  which  can  be  resuscitated.  The  rotifers  do  not  resist  a  temperature  of 
212°  Fahr.  any  better  when  the  experiment  is  conducted  in  such  a  way  that  they 
are  really  subjected  to  this  heat. 
4 


50  THE    UNIVERSE. 

tionists  take  care  not  to  give  these  facts,  of  which  an  ample 
supply  may  be  found  in  the  works  of  naturalists,  for  fear  of 
compromising  their  system. 

The  alleged  facts  regarding  the  resurrection  of  the  Ro- 
tifera  are  of  the  same  cast.  If  they  revive  after  a  long 
starvation,  it  is  because  they  were  no  more  dead  than  the 
molluscs  in  question.  Encased,  like  them,  in  their  envelope, 
and  perhaps  even  more  effectually,  their  life  in  this  con- 
tracted state  is  only  supported  by  their  organs  still  retain- 
ing sufficient  fluid  to  prevent  existence  from  being  extin- 
guished. When  they  are  really  dry  and  dead,  not  even  a 
semblance  of  resurrection  is  possible.  To  resuscitate  a 
mummy  is  a  threefold  absurdity,  —  physical,  physiological, 
and  metaphysical. 

Physical,  because  those  who  have  seen  a  mummy  could 
never  imagine  that  tissues  so  ruined  by  desiccation  can 
recover  their  appearance  and  properties  under  the  influence 
of  moisture. 

Physiological,  because  organs  so  changed  could  not  take 
on  their  functions  again. 

And  finally  metaphysical,  because  if  a  small  quantity  of 
water  could  restore  to  a  mummy  all  the  intangible  springs 
of  life,  it  would  be  the  coping-stone  of  the  most  incompre- 
hensible materialism.  The  phoenix  only  lives  as  a  myth, 
and  the  dead  no  longer  issue  from  their  tombs  at  the  voice 
of  Elijah. 

Very  naturally,  those  physiologists  who,  in  imitation  of 
Dujardin,  have  likened  microscopic  animalcules  to  morsels 
of  living  gelatine,  hailed  the  doctrine  of  palingenesis,  or  re- 
suscitation from  death. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  51 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  those  men  who  have  made  them- 
selves illustrious  by  their  immortal  labors  with  the  micro- 
scope, such  as  Ehrenberg  and  Diesing,  reduced  this  hypoth- 
esis to  nullity.  '  The  former,  in  a  communication  to  me, 
with  one  stroke  of  his  pen,  characterized  the  error  of  the 
philosophers  whom  we  are  opposing.  "  They  only  resusci- 
tate" he  said,  "animals  which  are  not  dead." 

But  although  belief  in  revivification  has  vanished  in  the 
presence  of  reason  and  experiment,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  there  were  a  host  of  extraordinary  circumstances,  which 
were  quite  calculated  to  mislead  men's  minds  very  easily 
indeed, 

It  is  true  we  are,  in  our  day,  obliged  to  erase  the  charm- 
ing romance  of  palingenesis,  with  which  our  forefathers 
amused  themselves.  Still  we  must  say  that,  although  the 
Rotifera  cannot  be  resuscitated  when  they  are  once  dead, 
their  tenacity  of  life  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  phe- 
nomena. Their  resistance  to  cold  is  something  marvellous, 
and  we  don't  even  know  where  it  stops  ;  the  lowest  temper- 
ature that  we  can  obtain  in  our  laboratories  does  not  seem 
to  have  any  effect  upon  them.  I  have  seen  these  animals 
defy  a  cold  which  would  kill  a  man  a  hundred  times  over. 
Rotifera  placed  in  an  apparatus  where  the  temperature  was 
— 40°  Fahr.  issued  from  it  full  of  vitality. 

The  natural  history  of  the  Rotifera  is  a  marvel  from  be- 
ginning to  end.  I  have  sometimes  removed  them  quickly 
from  the  freezing  apparatus  and  thrown  them  into  a  stove 
heated  to  176°  Fahr.  When  they  emerged  from  this,  on 
being  immersed  in  water  they  were  seen  to  recover  their 
animation  and  run  about  full  of  life.  In  this  twofold  test 


52  THE   UNIVERSE. 

and  formidable  transition  from  cold  to  heat,  these  minute 
animals  passed  rapidly  through  a  change  of  216°  Fahr. 
without  being  in  the  least  inconvenienced  by  it. 

An  ox  could  not  bear  with  impunity  what  imperceptible 
animalcules  endure.1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   SPONGE   AND   THE   FLINT. 

THESE  two  names  seem  to  form  an  antithesis,  but  not  so 
absolutely  in  natural  history  as  might  be  supposed,  for 
sometimes  one  of  these  bodies  is  derived  from  the  other. 
But  what  connection  can  there  be  between  our  soft  and 
flexible  sponges  and  the  hard  flint  from  which  the  steel 
draws  sparks  ?  Let  us  see. 

From  Aristotle  down  to  our  days  men  have  never  known 
to  what  kingdom  the  sponges  should  be  relegated.  At  the 
present  time  some  naturalists  consider  them  as  vegetables  ; 
others,  on  the  contrary,  rank  them  among  the  animals. 

1  M.  Broca  remarks  as  follows  on  one  of  my  experiments  on  this  extraordinary 
vital  tenacity  :  "  Of  all  the  tests  to  which  these  revivable  animals  have  been  sub- 
jected, the  above  is  certainly  the  most  astounding.  Before  this  beautiful  experi- 
ment was  performed  by  M.  Bouchet,  we  had  only  a  very  indistinct  idea  as  to  the 
power  of  resistance  possessed  by  the  tardigrades  and  rotifers,  and  it  is  almost 
incredible  that,  when  so  suddenly  heated,  in  an  instantaneous  rise,  indeed,  of  al- 
most 180°  Fahr.,  the  sudden  dilatation  of  the  tissues  did  not  produce  rupture  of 
them.  But  we  cannot  resist  the  evidence,  and  we  are  bound  to  say  that  M.  Bou- 
chet has  discovered  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  properties  of  the  rotifers  and 
tardigrades."  —  Broca,  Etudes  sur  les  Animaux  Ressuscitants.  Paris,  1860,  p.  59. 
Since  that  date  I  have  succeeded  in  suddenly  raising  the  temperature  of  the 
pseudo-resuscitating  animalcules  216°  Fahr. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  53 

There  is  even  a  third  opinion,  which  views  them  as  belong- 
ing to  both  kingdoms  at  the  same  time. 

Every  sponge  is  composed  of  a  mass,  to  all  appearance 
gelatinous,  supported  by  an  inextricable  network  of  horny 
filaments,  or  more  rarely  by  a  calcareous  or  silicious  frame- 
work. 

Sponges  are  the  lowest  stage  of  animal  life,  lower  even 
than  the  monad.  It  is  true  they  present  very  distinct  forms 
to  our  view,  but  nothing  in  them  displays  the  individuality 
of  their  architects.  They  are  confounded  together  in  one 
glairy  mass,  the  undulations  of  which  are  almost  insensible ; 
while  the  monad  is  clearly  defined  and  endowed  with  an 
active  locomotion. 

The  vitality  of  the  sponges  is  indeed  of  so  doubtful  a 
kind  that  they  have  only  been  classed  in  the  animal  king- 
dom in  consequence  of  deductions  drawn  from  certain  phe- 
nomena they  exhibit.  Of  organs  there  is  no  trace. 

Sponges  are  the  most  truly  manifold  in  form  of  any  ani- 
mals ;  they  are  met  with  of  all  shapes,  all  sizes,  and  all 
colors. 

Some  branch  out  like  trees ;  many  resemble  a  funnel  or  a 
trumpet ;  others  are  divided  into  lobes  like  great  fingers, 
for  instance,  the  Neptune's  Glove;  and  there  are  some  which 
are  known  by  the  name  of  sea-muffs  and  sea-tapers,  on  ac- 
count of  their  form. 

A  certain  variety  produces  great  masses,  which  grow 
from  three  to  six  feet  high  on  the  submarine  rocks.  They 
have  a  narrow  stalk,  which  at  a  certain  height  expands  con- 
siderably, and  gives  the  structure  the  appearance  of  a  cup, 
symmetrically  hollowed  out,  and  exactly  like  an  immense 


54  THE   UNIVERSE. 

drinking  goblet.  To  such  a  colossal  vase  the  imagination 
of  the  sailor  could  only  give  one  name,  that  of  the  re- 
doubtable god  of  the  sea;  this  living  vase  is  the  Cup  of 
Neptune  ! 

I  never  see  one  of  these  gigantic  sponges  without  hum- 
bling myself  before  the  wisdom  of  Providence.  This  truly 
monumental  structure  is  erected  solely  by  myriads  of 
Polypi,  fragile  animals  shrunk  within  their  holes,  and  only 
half  issuing  in  order  to  plunge  their  imperceptible  arms 
into  the  waves.  And  who  directs  and  guides  the  invisible 
hands  of  these  Polypi,  separated  from  one  another,  and 
often  a  yard  apart,  so  as  to  give  their  works  such  harmoni- 
ous symmetry  ?  Who,  when  the  narrow  stalk  is  finished, 
tells  its  population  that  from  henceforth  they  must  widen 
it  ?  Who  tells  them  when  the  time  is  come  for  hollowing 
the  vase,  and  when  it  is  the  season  for  thinning  its  edges 
and  adorning  the  exterior  with  elegant  ribs  ?  And  lastly, 
what  supreme  inspiration  teaches  a  multitude  of  workmen, 
so  scattered  and  all  caged  in  their  little  cells,  that  they 
must  mould  the  cup  in  all  its  artistic  proportions  ? 

I  can  understand  the  bee  building  her  cell ;  I  can  under- 
stand her  foresight,  and  how  a  work  can  be  arranged  where 
all  the  workmen  can  see,  communicate  with,  and  compre- 
hend each  other ;  but  I  admit  that  all  seems  to  me  incom- 
prehensible in  the  architectural  work  of  Neptune's  Cup. 
My  mind  is  overwhelmed  and  confounded.  This  magnifi- 
cent construction  is  the  noblest  challenge  one  can  offer  the 
school  of  materialism.  Do  the  physico-chemical  sciences 
explain  how  these  animals  communicate  with  each  other  so 
as  to  finish  their  common  habitation.?  — for  it  is  absolutely 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


55 


necessary  that  all  should  be  governed  by  one   dominant 
idea.     Certainly  not.     There  is  nothing  but  utter   feeble- 


22.  Neptune's  Cup:  Raphidophora patera. 


ness  in  these  presumptuous  theories,  the  audacity  of  which 
nowadays  alone  makes  them  successful. 

We  have  placed  the  flint  and  sponge  together,  one  of  the 


56  THE    UNIVERSE. 

hardest  of  our  stones  with  one  of  the  softest  of  animals, 
because  the  one  seems  in  some  cases  to  be  only  a  transfor- 
mation of  the  other. 

Certain  sponges,  in  lieu  of  having  a  soft  and  horny  frame- 
work, are  composed  of  little  hollows  or  fibres  of  flint;  and 
accordingly,  so  far  from  showing  the  flexibility  of  those  we 
ordinarily  use,  they  are  excessively  fragile,  and  the  least 
pressure  breaks  them  like  glass. 

When  this  peculiarity  is  taken  into  account,  the  prox- 
imity of  the  sponge  to  the  flint  appears  less  extraordinary, 
for  the  detritus  of  the  former  would  be  adequate  to  produce 
the  other  by  its  condensation.  Indeed,  some  geologists 
think  that  the  flints  of  the  chalk  proceeded,  if  not  entirely, 
at  least  in  great  part,  from  the  Sponges  and  Infusoria  which 
inhabited  the  cretaceous  seas.  The  flints  of  some  countries 
even  contain  the  debris  of  sponges  ;  remains  of  sponges  are 
also  found  in  jaspers  and  agates.1 

Thus  a  connection  is  established  between  one  of  the  most 
fragile  organisms  in  creation  and  one  of  the  hardest  rocks, 
—  the  sponge  and  the  flint. 

1  It  is  to  Mr.  Bowerbank  that  we  are  indebted  for  having  shown  that  the  flints 
of  different  localities  contain  the  remains  of  sponges.  He  also  demonstrated  that 
the  moss-agates  of  Germany  and  Sicily  owe  the  peculiarity  from  which  they  are 
named  to  the  presence  of  sponges.  —  Trans.  Geol.  Soc.  v.  4. 


BOOK  II. 


THE  ARCHITECTS  OF  THE  SEA. 

ancient  philosophy  maintained,  with  Thales,  that 
everything  had  issued  from  the  sea,  it  was  by  no  means  far 
astray. 

The  sea  possesses  a  fecundity  which  the  earth  in  no  way 
approaches  ;  every  drop  is  a  world  teeming  with  animation. 
So  magnificent  is  it  that,  as  Columbus  said,  "  the  tongue 
and  the  hand  do  not  suffice  to  describe  it."  Life  shows  it- 
self everywhere  ;  animates  its  darkest  abysses,  and  displays 
itself  in  profusion  on  its  surface.  As  we  have  seen,  its 
fragile  representatives  are  found  at  a  depth  of  12,000  feet. 
Others  delight  to  live  only  in  the  midst  of  the  waves,  as  the 
swimming  fucus  or  sea-weed,  which  forms  immense  mead- 
ows that  stop  the  ships. 

The  largest  of  these  fucus  banks  is  found  in  the  path  of 
mariners  sailing  from  Europe  to  America,  between  the 
Azores,  the  Canary,  and  Cape  Verd  Islands.  Mention  is 
already  made  of  it  in  the  Phoenician  traditions,  where  they 
speak  of  a  herbose  or  gelatinous  sea,  situated  beyond  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules.  Aristotle  says  that  the  boldest  mar- 
iners of  antiquity,  startled  at  its  appearance,  durst  not  cross 
its  boundary. 


58 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


This  immense  plain  of  Algae,  known  as  the  Sargasso  Sea, 
which  seems  to  bind  the  waves,  well-nigh  hindered  the  dis- 
covery of  America.  The  progress  of  the  vessels  of  Colum- 
bus being  seriously  impeded  at  this  spot,  the  crews  became 


23.  Sargassum,  or  Swimming  Fucus  :  Fucus  bacciferus. 

alarmed,  and,  dreading  that  they  would  never  be  able  to 
extricate  themselves,  mutinied,  imperiously  demanding  that 
they  should  be  taken  back  to  their  native  country. 

There  is  one  very   remarkable    phenomenon  connected 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  59 

"wi* 
with  this  bank  of  floating  sea-weed,  which  is,  perhaps,  five 

or  six  times  as  large  as  France,  and  that  is  its  constant  stay 
in  one  spot  during  so  many  centuries,  in  spite  of  the  per- 
petual agitation  of  the  waves  and  the  great  movements  of 
the  mass  of  the  ocean.  "  If,"  says  Maury,  "  we  throw  into 
a  vessel  filled  with  water  pieces  of  cork,  grains  of  corn,  or 
any  other  floating  bodies,  and  communicate  a  rotatory 
movement  to  the  water,  all  these  light  bodies  will  collect 
towards  the  centre,  because  the  water  is  less  agitated  there 
than  elsewhere.  It  is  the  same  thing  with  respect  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  only  that  it  is  a  vessel  of  larger  dimensions. 
Its  waters  are  set  in  movement  partly  by  the  colossal  Gulf 
Stream,  which  extends  from  Western  India  to  the  confines 
of  the  Icy  Sea  of  the  north ;  partly  by  the  equatorial  current, 
which  traverses  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  America  to  Africa. 
The  central  point  of  rest  is  just  about  where  we  find  the 
bank  of  Algae  we  have  been  speaking  of.  It  will  thus  be 
understood  that  these  do  not  necessarily  grow  where  they 
are  found ;  it  is  indeed  much  more  probable  that  they  are 
driven  from  the  storm-beaten  shores  towards  the  calm 
centre  of  the  Atlantic  basin." 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    COKAL   AND   ITS    BUILDERS. 

CORAL,  celebrated  as  early  as  in  the  songs  of  Orpheus,  and 
considered  as  one  of  the  most  precious  productions  of  the 
sea,  has  beheld  ages  roll  away  without  diminishing  its  repu- 


60  THE   UNIVERSE. 

tation.  The  Gauls  and  Indians  decorated  their  swords  and 
armor  with  it ;  nowadays  it  is  only  employed  in  female  or- 
naments. In  one  country  the  daughters  of  Nubia  load  their 
ebony  shoulders  with  long  necklaces  of  coral,  the  clear  red 
gleam  of  which,  in  another  land,  brings  out  in  full  relief 
the  satiny  white  necks  of  the  beautiful  Circassians. 

But  it  has  required  twenty  centuries  of  incessant  groping 
in  the  dark  to  unveil  the  mysterious  nature  of  this  coral. 

It  forms  a  branched  stem,  of  a  beautiful  red  color,  as  hard 
as  the  most  compact  rocks,  and,  like  them,  capable  of  tak- 
ing a  fine  polish.  When  it  is  withdrawn  from  the  sea,  of 
which  it  inhabits  the  great  depths  only,  it  is,  from  the  ar- 
rangement of  its  branches,  precisely  like  a  bush  in  minia- 
ture, and  a  section  of  its  stem  presents  concentric  layers 
analogous  to  those  of  certain  trees.  Its  branches  are  cov- 
ered with  a  soft  rose-colored  bark,  and  display  here  and 
there  small  holes,  in  each  of  which  resides  one  of  the  build- 
ers of  the  coral.  These  are  so  many  Polypi,  which,  when 
they  expand,  wear  all  the  appearance  of  pretty  little  flowers 
of  a  beautiful  white  color,  with  eight  divisions  spread  out 
like  rays,  and  the  borders  of  which  are  ornamented  with  a 
fringe  of  cilia  or  minute  hairs. 

It  was  this  deceitful  appearance  which  made  naturalists 
so  long  dubious  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  coral. 

Its  extreme  hardness  and  the  beautiful  polish  it  takes 
led  some  observers  to  look  upon  it  as  a  simple  mineral. 

But  the  idea  which  seemed  to  predominate  over  all  others 
was  that  of  coral  being  only  a  submarine  shrub.  This  was 
the  opinion  of  Pliny  and  Dioscorides  ;  and  these  two  great 
scholars,  seeing  it  was  so  hard  and  compact,  added  that  the 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


61 


shrub  only  made  its  appearance  in  this  indurated  form  be- 
cause it  became  suddenly  petrified  when  brought  into  con- 
tact with  the  air,  as  it  issued  from  the  waves. 

The  sagacious  traveller  Tournefort  gained  in  respect  to 
coral  no  additional  knowledge  from  his  wanderings  in  the 
East,  the  native  land  of  this  celebrated  substance.  He  also 
took  it  to  be  a  plant,  and  even  had  it  engraved  under  this 
heading  in  one  of  the  plates  of  his  magnificent  work.  It  is 


24.  Branched  Coral :  Caryophillia  ramea. 


there  placed  in  the   twenty-second  class  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  in  the  section  which  he  entitles  "  of  the  marine  or 


62 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


fluviatile  plants,  the  flowers  and  fruits  of  which  are  generally 
unknown. 

For  a  moment,  but  alas  only  for  a  moment,  the  opinion 
of  the  French  botanist  seemed  to  be  confirmed  by  the  most 
strict  observation.  In  the  eighteenth  century  Count  Mar- 
sigli  announced  to  the  scientific  world  that  he  had  discov- 
ered the  flowers  of  the  coral,  and  that  consequently  its  veg- 
etable nature  could  no  longer  be  called  in  question.  By 
placing  branches  of  coral  in  sea-water,  immediately  after 
they  had  been  fished  up,  the  Italian  naturalist  saw  the  bud- 
like  protuberances  which  cover  its  surface  open  like  so 
many  eight-pe tailed  flowers,  formed  of  elegant  white  and 
star-shaped  corollas,  outlined  upon  the  reddish  bark  of  the 
stems.  Marsigli  doubted  no  longer  ;  these  were  the  flowers 

of  the  paradoxical  shrub  ;  he 
had  solved  the  problem  left 
unsettled  by  Tournefort.  In 
his  joy,  when  announcing  his 
discovery  to  the  assembled 
Academy  of  Sciences,  to 
whom  he  had  forwarded  his 
specimens,  he  wrote  to  the 
president,  "  I  send  you  some 
branches  of  coral  covered  with 
white  flowers.  This  discovery 

25.   Red  Coral,  magnified  :    Corallium  ru-     has  made     me    paSS    for    almost 
brum.     A,    Polypi;    B,    Ciliated    Ovule; 

c,  Larva.  a  sorcerer  in  the  country ;  no 

person,    not    even    the   fishermen,  having   seen    anything 
similar." 

The  illustrious  and  learned  assembly  was  convinced,  but 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  63 

its  convictions  and  the  repose  of  Marsigli  were  only  to  be 
of  brief  duration.  Not  long  after  this  supposed  settlement 
of  the  question,  Peyssonnel,  a  French  physician,  who  in 
1725  happened  to  travel  along  the  coast  of  Barbary,  hav- 
ing been  present  at  the  coral  fishing,  and  having  instituted 
some  lengthy  investigations  on  the  subject,  discovered  that 
what  had  been  taken  for  the  flowers  of  the  coral  were  only 
so  many  little  animals  or  Polypi,  which  were  really  the 
builders  of  the  deceptive  stony  shrub. 

Convinced  of  the  exactness  of  his  observations,  Peysson- 
nel  in  his  turn  disclosed  them  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  ; 
but  the  Academy,  still  fascinated  by  the  coral  flowers  which 
the  Italian  count  had  sent,  gave  no  heed  to  the  discoveries 
of  the  French  physician,  and  showed  this  in  the  most  deli- 
cate manner. 

Reaumur,  having  been  commissioned  by  this  learned  body 
to  report  upon  the  discovery,  thought  he  ought  not,  out  of 
compassion,  as  he  said,  to  name  the  author ;  and  when  he 
acknowledged  the  receipt  of  his  memoir  wrote  to  him  in  a 
tone  of  pity  and  irony.  But  the  position  assumed  by  the 
sedate  and  conscientious  Barnard  de  Jussieu  was  even  more 
unpardonable.  He  addressed  a  letter  to  Peyssonnel,  with- 
out any  silly  raillery,  it  is  true,  which  was  indeed  totally 
foreign  to  his  character,  but  quite  as  discouraging  as  that  of 
the  entomologist.  De  Jussieu  was,  however,  the  more  cul- 
pable of  the  two,  for  the  most  superficial  examination  of 
the  so-called  coral  flowers  would  have  shown  him  his  mis- 
take. All  the  fundamental  parts  of  the  floral  apparatus 
were  wanting,  but  it  appears  the  botanist  did  not  give  him- 
self the  trouble  to  look  at  them. 


64  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  affair  made  a  great  stir,  and  it  became  necessary, 
nolens  volens,  to  unravel  it.  As  soon  as  it  was  cleared  up, 
the  conclusion  universally  arrived  at  was  that  it  was  the 
simple  country  physician  who  had  been  right,  and  the 
Academy  that  had  been  wrong.  The  coral  flowers  turned 
out  to  be  only  Polypi,  and  the  stony  shrub  a  place  of  abode 
for  them,  sculptured  and  fashioned  by  the  tiny  animals. 

Such  are  the  facts  as  regards  the  nature  of  coral.  Let  us 
revert  to  the  second  error  which  tarnishes  its  history. 

It  was  difficult,  when  the  erroneous  view  with  regard  to 
coral  was  held,  to  understand  how  so  hard  a  body  could  be 
merely  vegetable  tissue.  The  fishermen,  following  the  an- 
cient tradition,  explained  the  matter  with  perfect  satisfac- 
tion to  themselves,  and  all  the  world  gave  credence  to  what 
they  said.  They  maintained  that  this  marine  shrub,  so 
long  as  it  is  under  water,  is  not  harder  than  analogous 
terrestrial  plants,  but  that  it  hardens  suddenly  when 
brought  in  contact  with  the  air.  This  strange  opinion  was 
deeply  rooted  among  the  common  people,  and  ranked 
among  the  best  established  facts. 

However,  M.  Nicolai,  inspector  of  fisheries,  determined  to 
verify  the  affair  for  himself. 

He  made  one  of  his  coral-fishers  dive  and  see  what  was 
really  the  consistence  of  the  coral ;  the  man  brought  back 
word  that  it  was  as  hard  in  the  sea  as  in  the  air.  But  such 
is  the  power  of  prejudice  that  M.  Nicolai  only  half  believed 
his  servant,  and  finally  decided  to  dive  also,  and  satisfy  him- 
self as  to  the  facts.  He  did  so,  and  found  out  that  coral  is 
really  just  as  hard  in  the  midst  of  the  waves  as  on  land. 

Thus  for  two  thousand  years  men  continued  to  doubt  and 
speculate  before  determining  the  true  nature  of  coral. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  65 

All  this  time  was  necessary  to  prove  that  it  is  only  the 
production  of  a  simple  marine  polyp,  and  that  in  the  depths 
of  the  seas  which  it  inhabits,  and  from  whence  the  fisher- 
men tear  it  up  with  their  nets,  it  is  as  hard  as  when  it  is 
fashioned  into  those  bracelets  and  rich  necklaces  which 
form  such  a  charming  contrast  with  the  white  skins  of  our 
most  attractive  women.1 


CHAPTER  II. 

ISLAND   BUILDERS. 

UNSEEN  by  human  eye,  myriads  of  animals,  more  numer- 
ous than  the  cloud  of  stars  in  the  Milky  Way,  labor  silently 
in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  build  up  structures  the  size  of 
which  astounds  us.  Their  erections,  to  which  is  commonly 
given  the  name  of  coral  reefs,  are  sometimes  raised  with 
surprising  rapidity,  making  parts  of  the  ocean  unnavigable 
which  vessels  had  previously  gone  through  under  full  sail. 

These  submarine  banks  are  nothing  but  agglomerations 
of  the  calcareous  homes  of  polyps,  constructed  by  fragile 
animals  not  unlike  minute  flowers,  and  which  inhabit  the 
innumerable  little  holes  wherewith  the  surface  is  over- 

1  The  natural  history  of  coral  has  been  completed  quite  recently  by  M.  Lacaze- 
Duthiers.  This  zoologist  observed  that  the  individuals  scattered  over  the 
branches  of  the  polypoid  imitate  in  their  sexual  disposition  an  arrangement  seen 
in  certain  plants.  Some  are  only  males;  others  carry  only  female  organs;  lastly, 
there  are  some  which  bear  both  sexes  at  the  same  time,  and  are  hermaphrodite. 
The  eggs  of  the  coral  are  spherical  and  of  a  milk-white  color,  and  very  soon  after 
they  have  issued  from  the  body  of  the  mother  move  about  actively  and  seek  out  a 
favorable  site  to  plant  themselves  upon. 
5 


66  THE   UNIVERSE. 

spread.  But  these  obscure  artisans,  as  modest  as  they  are 
laborious,  frequently  conceal  themselves  from  the  eye  ;  to 
see  them  we  must  have  recourse  to  the  magnifying-glass. 

It  is  principally  in  the  South  Sea  and  the  Ked  Sea  that 
the  constructions  of  these  Polypi  abound.  At  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  Maldive  Islands  they  form  extraordinary 
masses,  of  not  less  extent  than  the  Alps,  according  to  the 
accounts  of  travellers.  The  American  traveller  Dana  states 
that  the  larger  coral  islands  of  the  Pacific  are  at  present 
290  in  number,  with  a  total  area  of  20,000  square  miles,  — 
an  enormous  work,  equal  perhaps  to  an  eighth  part  of  the 
surface  of  all  the  other  islands  of  this  vast  sea. 

After  having  described  the  methods  by  which  the  Polypi 
raise  their  dangerous  reefs  so  fatal  to  mariners,  Owen  thus 
sums  up  as  to  the  immensity  of  their  labors  :  "  The  pro- 
digious extent  of  the  combined  and  unintermitting  labors  of 
these  little  world-architects  must  be  witnessed  in  order  to 
be  adequately  conceived.  They  have  built  up  a  barrier 
reef  along  the  shores  of  New  Caledonia  for  a  length  of  400 
miles ;  and  another  which  runs  along  the  northeast  coast  of 
Australia  1000  miles  in  extent."  This  represents,  adds  the 
illustrious  zoologist,  a  mass  compared  with  which  the  walls 
of  Babylon  and  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt  are  but  children's 
toys.  And  these  edifices  of  the  Polypi  have  been  reared  in 
the  midst  of  the  ocean  waves,  and  in  defiance  of  tempests 
which  so  rapidly  annihilate  the  strongest  works  of  man. 

Notwithstanding  their  extreme  minuteness,  the  Polypi 
have  nevertheless,  by  their  calcareous  buildings,  brought 
about  important  changes  on  the  crust  of  the  terrestrial 
globe.  They  have  modified  it  in  two  ways :  by  raising  the 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  67 

bed  of  the  sea  through  their  ceaseless  development,  and  by 
forming  large  calcareous  mountains  with  their  debris ;  in 
fact.,  when  we  examine  the  layers  of  which  these  elevations 
are  composed,  we  perceive  that  they  are  formed  entirely  of 
corals  and  bivalves  which  swarmed  in  the  ancient  oceans  of 
the  globe.  Ground  to  dust  by  the  furious  waves,  these  crea- 
tures have  only  here  and  there  left  a  few  traces*  to  attest 
their  presence,  and  serve  as  a  light  to  the  modern  investi- 
gators of  science.  Such  is  the  opinion  of  Lyell  and  most 
modern  geologists.  In  support  of  this  view  it  has  been  ob- 
served that  certain  lagoons  are  filled  with  a  calcareous  mud, 
evidently  due  to  the  detritus  of  the  corals,  and  that  so  soon 
as  this  is  dried  it  exactly  resembles  the  chalk  of  our  an- 
cient mountains. 

To  the  action  of  the  waves,  the  chief  agent  in  trans- 
forming the  coral  rocks  and  bivalves  into  calcareous  strata, 
there  is  joined  another,  much  less  energetic,  it  is  true,  but 
extremely  curious.  Mr.  Darwin  relates  that  all  round  the 
coral  islands  the  transparency  of  the  water  allows  shoals  of 
fish  to  be  seen,  principally  of  the  genus  Sparus,  which  feed 
on  the  tips  of  the  branching  corals,  exactly  as  flocks  of 
sheep  browse  on  the  pasturage  of  our  meadows.  In  their 
eagerness  to  feed  on  the  workman,  they  devour  along  with 
him  certain  parts  of  his  edifice  ;  and  as  these  are  quite  indi- 
gestible, the  result  is,  according  to  the  English  savant,  that 
a  part  of  the  chalky  substance  which  encumbers  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  in  the  vicinity  of  the  coral  reefs  comes  from  the 
defecations  of  these  fish.  When  the  Spari  are  dissected, 
their  alimentary  canal  is  often  seen  filled  with  pure  chalk. 

The  coral  islands  generally  lie   on  an  upheaval  of  the 


the  sea. 

iliiipp 


68  THE   UNIVERSE. 

bed  of  the  sea.     Volcanic  action  begins  the  work,  and  the 

Polypi  finish  it;  they 
bring  the  construction 
up  to  the  level  of  the 
waves.  These  islands 
always  display  a  pe- 
culiar configuration  ; 
they  are  nearly  all 
circular,  and  there  is 
a  crater  -  like  depres- 
sion  in  the  middle. 
This  peculiarity  seems 
£  to  be  owing  to  the  fact 
1.  that  the  little  work- 
men  can  support  their 
vital  energies  better 
where  the  water,  be- 
ing agitated,  brings 
them  a  more  ample 
supply  of  nourish- 
ment. The  animals 
in  the  centre,  being 
placed  under  different 
conditions,  are  less 
vigorous  and  active, 
and  consequently  can- 
not raise  their  living 
rampart  so  fast. 

In  the  Pacific  Ocean, 

where  a  tolerably  large  number  of  those  islands  are  seen, 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  69 

the  polyp  structures  reach  the  level  of  the  low  tides,  and 
after  that  the  great  surges  raise  the  middle  part,  by  casting 
back  upon  it  incessantly  the  fragments  which  they  tear 
away  from  the  circumference.  When  in  the  lapse  of  years 
the  island  rises  above  water,  the  detritus  of  marine  plants 
raises  it  still  more,  and  the  virgin  soil  is  speedily  fecun- 
dated by  seeds  which  the  winds,  birds,  and  currents  carry 
thither.  Soon  after  man  comes  to  crown  the  handiwork  of 
nature  by  raising  dwellings  on  the  ruins  of  those  of  myriads 
of  unseen  beings.  Then  a  king  arrives,  who  sits  proudly 
upon  his  throne  amidst  this  mass  of  skeletons  of  Polypi 
abandoned  by  the  sea. 

Two  of  the  most  celebrated  travellers  of  our  epoch,  Fors- 
ter  and  Peron,  think  that  these  coral  or  madrepore  reefs 
and  islands  are  formed  with  extraordinary  rapidity,  and 
that  a  few  years  suffice  to  materially  change  the  depths  of 
the  sea,  and  strew  with  dangerous  rocks  and  impassable 
barriers  tracts  of  the  ocean  in  which,  but  a  little  while  pre- 
viously, navigators  sailed  in  safety.  These  new  lands  some- 
times spring  up  with  such  celerity  as  to  baffle  all  nautical 
science.  One  of  the  straits  in  the  approaches  to  Australia, 
which  a  few  years  ago  only  possessed  twenty-six  madrepore 
islands,  at  present  displays  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

Geologists  themselves  have  dwelt  upon  the  power  of 
these  builders  of  worlds,  as  the  illustrious  Michelet  calls 
them,  which  recast  and  changed  the  surface  of  the  globe  at 
certain  antediluvian  periods.  At  that  time  they  swarmed 
in  the  immense  seas  which  rolled  their  tumultuous  waves 
over  almost  all  the  lands  now  covered  by  cultivated  fields 
and  peaceful  abodes.  Certain  countries  in  Europe  possess 


70  THE    UNIVERSE. 

remarkably  extensive  banks ;  ancient  Germany  and  its 
sombre  forests  rest  on  a  vast  cemetery  of  corals  and  madre- 
pores. 

If  the  Polypi,  being  so  extremely  small  as  they  are,  as- 
tonish us  by  the  mighty  fortresses  with  which  they  fetter 
the  ocean,  we  must  admit  that  they  are  equally  worthy  of 
our  admiration  when  we  look  upon  the  task  intrusted  to 
them  in  the  midst  of  their  watery  solitudes.  Their  nourish- 
ment only  consists  of  the  imperceptible  debris  of  animals 
scattered  on  every  side  in  the  waves,  and  hence,  as  Buck- 
land  says,  they  have  an  important  mission  to  fulfil  in  the 
harmony  of  nature.  It  is  to  them  that  she  has  confided  the 
office  of  cleansing  the  waters  of  the  sea,  and  purging  them 
of  all  those  very  slight  impurities  which  escape  the  vora- 
cious fish.  Here,  then,  we  find  another  reason  for  hum- 
bling ourselves  before  the  wisdom  of  Providence  ! 

Ellis,  when  he  completed  his  history  of  the  Polypi,  over- 
whelmed with  astonishment  at  all  the  magnificence  which 
had  been  unrolled  before  his  eyes  during  his  long  and  in- 
cessant labors,  laid  down  his  pen,  and,  humbling  himself 
profoundly,  addressed  a  hymn  to  the  glory  of  Him  who 
created  so  many  marvels.1 

1  After  having  sacrificed  many  long  years  to  the  very  difficult  study  of  the 
Polypi,  Ellis,  when  laying  down  his  pen,  could  not  refrain,  as  we  have  said,  from 
addressing  a  hymn  to  the  Creator  of  so  many  marvels.  "  In  the  researches 
to  which  I  devoted  myself,"  says  the  English  naturalist,  "  scenes  altogether  new 
were  unrolled  before  my  eyes,  arousing  in  me  a  feeling  of  admiration  and  as- 
tonishment at  the  diversity  and  extent  of  life  scattered  through  the  universe. 
If,  then,  such  sentiments  were  excited  in  me  by  the  facts  which  I  have  related,  and 
by  these  marvels  of  animated  nature  where  its  existence  was  not  even  suspected, 
then,  without  doubt,  minds  more  learned,  and  endowed  with  a  greater  power  of 
penetration,  will  find,  at  some  future  day,  new  facts  to  be  recognized,  and  new 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  71 

In  the  countries  where  they  abound,  these  living  reef- 
builders,  though  often  mischievous,  as  some  slight  compen- 
sation, render  certain  services  to  man.  Their  structures 
sometimes  form  thick  and  very  compact  layers,  which  are 
made  use  of  as  building  stone.  Forskal,  who  explored  the 
shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  says  that  the  inhabitants  of  Suez  and 
Djeddah  carry  off  masses  of  madrepore  as  much  as  twenty- 
five  feet  long,  and  that  they  build  all  their  houses  with 
them.  My  learned  friend,  P.  E.  Botta,  told  me  that  in 
certain  villages  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  the  dwellings  are 
built  solely  of  such  materials. 

Thus  man  constructs  his  abodes  with  the  handiwork  of 
these  petty  architects,  the  Polypi. 

Each  species  has  its  own  separate  mission  and  form. 
Near  our  reef-builders  live  other  polyps,  which,  instead  of 
encrusting  the  rocks,  display  themselves  on  their  surface 
like  a  vegetable  forest,  the  petrified  branches  of  which 
brave  the  fury  of  the  billows.  Some  have  so  exactly  the 
same  physiognomy  as  our  plants,  that  the  old  botanists 
without  hesitation  classed  them  among  the  productions  of 
their  domain.  Others  spread  out  in  vast  cup-shaped  forms, 
one  rising  above  the  other  ;  as  may  be  seen  in  the  "  Car 
of  Neptune,"  the  ruler  of  the  seas. 

proofs  to  be  revealed,  if  that  were  necessary,  of  one  unique  will,  one  omnipotence, 
which  created,  and  which  now  preserves,  the  '  great  whole '  in  all  its  beauty  and 
perfection." 


72  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  III. 

STONE-BORERS   AND    WOOD-BORERS. 

WE  have  just  seen  how  invisible  architects  make  the 
depths  of  ocean  bristle  with  forests  of  coral  or  layers  of 
madrepore ;  we  have  now  to  busy  ourselves  about  workmen 
of  another  class,  the  true  miners,  who  build  nothing,  but 
instead  hollow  out  for  themselves  vaults  in  the  submerged 
rocks.  Their  ceaseless,  and  as  yet  inexplicable,  toil  enables 
them  to  pierce  deeply  into  the  most  compact  stones.  We 
are  astonished,  in  splitting  marble,  to  find  living  shells  in 
the  midst  of  blocks  which  the  chisel  of  the  sculptor  cuts 
with  difficulty. 

The  most  renowned  of  the  stone-borers  we  are  acquainted 
with,  the  Pholades,  ordinarily  scoop  out  their  abodes  in  the 
calcareous  rocks  of  our  shores.  They  are  thin,  white  shells, 
their  valves  being  elegantly  ornamented  with  projecting 
lamellae  or  symmetrically  arranged  points.  Their  two  ends 
are  opened  wide.  From  one  issue  the  respiratory  and  nu- 
tritive tubes,  which  lengthen  themselves  out  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  cavity  inhabited  by  the  mollusc,  in  order  to 
pump  up  the  sea-water,  with  its  myriads  of  animalcules, 
From  the  other,  still  more  open,  proceeds  the  foot,  a  thick, 
powei  fal,  living  sole,  intended  to  play  a  great  part  in  the 
life  of  the  solitary  animal. 

There  are  pholas-hunters  just  as  there  are  prawn-fishers. 
The  former  can  be  distinguished  with  singular  facility  at  a 
very  great  distance,  owing  to  the  brilliant  whiteness  of  their 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM. 


73 


clothes.  This  is  not  due  to  their  being  really  of  this  color, 
but  to  a  cement  formed  by  the  moist  chips  from  the  rocks, 
which  cover  the  bodies  of  this  peculiar  class  of  men,  and 
which  fly  off  as  they  cleave  the  rocks  with  powerful  blows 


27.  Dactyloid  Pholades  in  their  holes :  Pholas  dactylus. 

of  the  pickaxe,  in  order  to  find  in  their  depths  the  mol- 
luscs, which  they  sell  to  the  fishermen. 

When,  after  overcoming  the  obstacles  presented  by  a 
rocky  and  slippery  ground,  we  reach  the  neighborhood  of 
the  laborious  workman,  and,  having  induced  him  to  pause 
from  his  work,  so  that  our  clothes  may  not  be  soiled  by  the 
chips  radiating  from  his  hatchet,  we  examine  the  pholads 
lying  here  and  there  among  the  broken  stones,  we  return 
quite  convinced  that  there  exist  shell-fish  which  gnaw  stone, 
—  a  fact  which  many  people  doubted  not  long  ago.  But 


74  THE   UNIVERSE. 

another  problem  remains  to  be  solved,  and  that  is  to  know 
how  these  animals  execute  a  task  which  seems  so  much  be- 
yond their  powers. 

Some  naturalists  have  fancied  that  the  Pholades  are  only 
a  kind  of  living  files,  mechanically  boring  their  habitations 
by  rasping  the  rock  with  the  aid  of  the  sharp  points  on 
their  shells.  But  this  opinion  is  quite  untenable,  for  before 
they  could  pierce  the  hard  stone  these  delicate  projections 
themselves  would  be  completely  worn  away.1 

Other  naturalists  think  these  molluscs  make  use  of  some 
chemical  process,  and  hollow  out  their  abodes  by  distilling 
an  acid  which  acts  upon  the  stone.  This  theory  is  not  more 
admissible  than  the  other,  for  it  is  certain  that,  the  calca- 
reous outer  skeleton  of  the  animal  being  of  a  composition 
analogous  to  that  of  the  rock,  it  would  itself  be  the  first 
victim  of  the  corroding  agent,  and  would  be  dissolved  long 
before  the  hole  was  formed. 

It  is,  however,  clear  that  among  the  Pholades  living  in 


28.  Stone-Eating  Modiolus :  Modiolus  lithophayus.    From  nature. 

the  calcareous  rocks  of  our  shores  the  strongly  made  foot 
undertakes  the  task  in  question.  By  its  ceaseless  move- 
ments this  fleshy  sole,  little  by  little,  wears  away  the  rock 

1  As  to  the  pholads  of  our  shores,  I  have  proved  the  fact  by  demonstrating 
that  all  the  interior  of  the  hole,  on  a  level  with  the  shell,  is  covered  with  a  layer 
of  mud,  which  would  prevent  the  action  of  the  sharp  points  upon  the  irregulari- 
ties of  the  stone. 


29.  Ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Serapis,  on  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Baiee. 
From  a  Photograph. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  77 

which  the  water  has  softened.  In  fact,  the  rock,  which  is 
so  hard  in  its  dry  state,  is,  on  the  contrary,  very  soft  when 
the  sea- water  has  saturated  it,  and  rubbing  it  with  the  fin- 
ger for  a  few  minutes  is  enough  to  indent  it  deeply. 

But  though  the  problem  may  be  considered  solved  so  far 
as  regards  the  Lithophagi,  that  is  to  say,  the  eaters  of  stone 
which  live  in  the  soft  limestone,  there  seem  to  be  some 
doubts  as  to  those  found  in  our  most  compact  marbles ;  for 
it  is  evident  that  the  movement  of  the  foot  would  not  suf- 
fice to  pierce  so  unyielding  a  body. 

One  of  these  marble-cutters  has  acquired  a  great  celeb- 
rity in  the  annals  of  geology,  from  its  having  attacked  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Serapis  at  Pozzuoli,  on  the  border  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  almost  on  a  level  with  its  waves. 

It  is  a  Modiolus  which  has  cut  numerous  excavations 
in  the  beautiful  columns  of  this  sanctuary,  and  has  even 
gnawed  them  in  an  unsightly  manner  for  the  space  of  about 
three  feet  at  a  height  of  six  to  seven  feet  above  the  fore- 
court. Philosophers  suppose  that  at  some  epoch,  of  which 
history  makes  no  mention,  this  celebrated  temple  had  sunk 
in  the  sea,  owing  to  one  of  those  movements  in  the  soil  so 
common  in  volcanic  countries  ;  that  it  was  then  invaded  by 
the  stone-eating  molluscs ;  and  that  afterwards,  being  raised 
by  a  contrary  movement,  like  a  scene  on  the  stage,  the 
monument,  rising  like  magic  from  the  bosom  of  the  waves, 
reappeared  in  the  air,  displaying  to  our  astonished  eyes  the 
destruction  effected  by  the  animals  which  had  gnawed  it 
during  its  stay  below  the  waters. 

But  the  labor  of  the  mollusc  and  the  double  movement 
of  the  famous  temple  will  perhaps  long  remain  enveloped 


78  THE   UNIVERSE. 

in  mystery,  albeit  Schleiden  relates  that  an  old  monk  from 
a  convent  in  the  neighborhood  stated  that  in  his  youth  he 
had  gathered  grapes  near  the  monument,  in  a  spot  where 
now  the  boats  of  the  fishermen  are  rocked  on  the  waves.1 

The  sea  owns  yet  other  workmen,  but  they  dread  the 
hard  stone,  and  only  attack  wood.  As  to  them,  all  the  world 
knows  them  and  sees  their  doings.  They  are  the  sea- 
wrorms,  only  too  zealous  at  their  work,  which  make  such 
deadly  havoc  with  our  dikes  and  ships. 

These  enemies  of  our  naval  works  are  the  Teredoes,  or 
ship-worms  ( Teredo  navalis),  worm-like  molluscs  which  live 
constantly  in  the  interior  of  wood  submerged  in  the  waves, 
and  are  perpetually  gnawing  it,  and  hollowing  out  numer- 
ous tortuous  galleries.  We  know  exactly  what  their  tools 
are,  being  nothing  more  than  the  cutting  edge  of  the  little 
shell  which  is  projected  in  front  of  the  long  and  soft  body 
of  the  animal. 

The  ravages  of  the  Teredo  are  terrible.  In  a  short  space 
of  time  they  reduce  the  strongest  beams  to  a  state  of  fragile 
sponge.  In  1731  these  molluscs  well-nigh  occasioned  the 
submersion  of  Holland,  having  devoured  the  greatest  part 
of  the  Zealand  dikes.  They  are  a  complete  pest,  which  we 
cannot  check  when  we  like. 

1  I  have  twice  visited  this  celebrated  temple,  and  the  more  I  have  examined  it 
the  more  I  have  been  at  a  loss  to  solve  the  problems  connected  with  it.  Three  of 
its  gnawed  columns  of  beautiful  cepola  marble  are  still  standing;  the  others  are 
levelled  with  the  ground ;  but  the  base  is  so  perfectly  horizontal  that  it  is  hard  to 
understand  how  it  can  have  been  engulfed  and  magically  raised  up  again,  while 
still  preserving  its  level,  and  without  the  whole  of  the  columns  being  overturned. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  as  if  it  could  scarcely  have  served  for  a  marine  fish- 
pond, or  a  sacred  bath,  as  I  at  first  thought. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  79 

These  animals  incessantly  assail  the  framework  of  our 
strongest  ships,  and  by  perforating  their  timbers  place  them 
in  danger  and  threaten  them  with  instant  shipwreck.  It  is 


30.  Teredo,  or  Ship- Worm,  and  Fragment  of  Wood  devoured  by  others. 

solely  to  preserve  vessels  from  these  terrible  wood-devourers 
that  all  vessels  going  on  long  voyages  are  copper-bottomed. 
These,  then,  are  the  fragile  molluscs  which  ravage  our 
naval  structures ;  later  on  we  shall  speak  of  the  insects  which 
pitilessly  consume  our  dwellings. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MOUNTAIN    BUILDERS. 

TORN  from  the  depths  of  the  crust  of  the  earth,  and  for- 
cibly upheaved  above  the  clouds  by  a  formidable  power,  the 
lofty  mountain  systems  of  the  globe,  such  as  the  Alps  and 


80  THE   UNIVERSE. 

the  Cordilleras,  astonish  us  by  their  mass  and  their  eleva- 
tion. But  there  are  others  which,  though  less  gigantic, 
have  quite  as  marvellous  an  origin,  although  of  a  different 
kind  ;  these  are  the  mountains  of  shells. 

The  exuberance  of  life  in  the  ancient  oceans  surpassed 
everything  that  we  can  imagine  ;  our  modern  seas  give  us 
no  idea  of  it.  The  molluscs  lived  at  that  time  in  such  ser- 
ried and  compact  masses  that  their  remains  have  produced 
by  their  accumulation  deep  strata  and  lofty  eminences. 

The  phenomena  which  prevailed  when  these  were  gen- 
erated exhibit  a  threefold  modification. 

Sometimes  seas,  the  calmness  of  which  rivalled  their 
fecundity,  had  their  beds  slowly  raised,  the  cemeteries  of 
their  innumerable  inhabitants  being  in  this  way  raised  also. 
The  shells,  quietly  deposited  there  one  upon  another,  show 
no  trace  of  erosion.  After  so  many  thousands  of  years  we 
find  them  still  ornamented  with  their  most  delicate  projec- 
tions, with  their  almost  imperceptible  striae.  What  do  I 
say  ?  There  are  some  which  still  reflect  the  colors  that 
decorated  them  in  the  first  days  of  creation,  long  before 
the  work  was  finished  ! 

In  other  places,  swarming  in  the  midst  of  a  boundless 
ocean  tumultuously  agitated,  the  shells,  ground  by  its  furi- 
ous waves,  and  precipitated  in  the  form  of  impalpable  dust, 
also  formed  mountains.1 

However  extraordinary  such  an  origin  may  seem,  we  yet 
cannot  doubt  it ;  in  fact,  in  certain  localities  we  pass  by  in- 

1  To  these  crushed  shells,  which  compose  the  principal  part  of  the  grains  of 
calcareous  strata,  are  joined  also,  as  Lyell  points  out,  the  shattered  remains  of  a 
vast  number  of  polyp-dwellings. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  81 

sensible  transitions  from  rocks  wholly  composed  of  entire 
shells  heaped  up  to  strata  in  which  they  are  more  or  less 
finely  ground  down. 

Other  calcareous  prominences  have  a  still  more  extraor- 
dinary origin,  being  formed  solely  of  microscopic  beings, 
which,  although  of  extreme  minuteness,  have  miraculously 
braved  the  destructive  action  of  time.  I  am  not  speaking 
here  of  one  of  those  ingenious  theories  which  formerly 
science  was  so  fond  of  adopting.  The  microscope  proves, 
with  a  precision  that  cannot  be  contested,  the  truth  of  what 
we  advance.  Ehrenberg  has  even  given  excellent  figures 
of  all  these  marvels  in  his  "  Geological  Micrography."1 

Thus,  then,  when  we  speak  metaphorically  of  the  bones 
of  our  globe,  so  long  as  the  name  is  applied  to  the  moun- 
tains of  coarse  limestone,  we  are  right.  If  it  cannot  be 
looked  at  as  the  skeleton  of  our  sphere,  it  can  at  least  as 
that  of  innumerable  myriads  which  formerly  peopled  it. 

The  geological  chalk  formations,  which  here  and  there 
rise  in  long  chains  of  mountains,  are  due  to  similar  agglom- 
erations of  animalcules  with  calcareous  shells,  and,  in  spite 
of  the  size  of  the  layers,  are  nevertheless  composed  en- 
tirely of  the  debris  of  microscopic  Foraminifera.  It  is  they 
that  encircle  England  with  the  immense  rampart  of  beauti- 
ful white  to  which  it  owed  its  ancient  name  of  Albion.  In 
Russia,  near  the  Volga,  in  the  north  of  France,  in  Denmark, 

1  There  can  be  no  doubt  on  this  point.  In  his  Geological  Micrography,  Ehren- 
berg has  given  plates  representing  numerous  fossils  from  the  chalk.  They  are  so 
crowded  together  that  they  touch  each  other.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  also,  in  his  Geol- 
ogy, observes  that  certain  calcareous  strata  are  composed  of  small  fragments  of 
shells  and  coral. 


82 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


Sweden,  Greece,  Sicily,  Africa,  and  Arabia,  many  chalk  hills 
have  a  similar  origin. 

The  imagination   is  awed  when  it  tries  to  realize   the 
power  of  organic  life  which  produced  such  masses  by  the 


31.  Shells  of  Molluscs.    Foraminifera  greatly  enlarged.1 

simple  agglomeration  of  creatures  almost  invisible.  In  fact, 
their  minuteness  is  such  that  Schleiden  maintains  that  a 
single  visiting  card,  when  it  is  covered  with  a  white  layer 
of  chalk,  represents  a  zoological  cabinet  containing  nearly 
100,000  shells  of  animals. 

In  a  hill  in  the  environs  of  Dover,  after  long  preliminary 
workings,  a  mine  containing  about  181  cwt.  of  powder  was 
sprung  in  the  year  1843.  When  it  was  ignited  by  means 

1  The  sand  of  every  sea- shore  is  so  full  of  Foraminifera  that  it  may  be  said  to 
be  one  half  composed  of  them.  In  a  single  ounce  of  sea-sand  from  the  Antilles, 
4,000,000  individuals  may  be  counted.  —  Chenu. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  83 

of  the  electric  battery,  it  tore  up,  almost  without  any  noise, 
the  sides  of  an  imposing  mass  of  chalk,  the  debris  of  which, 
computed  at  about  1,000,000  tons,  was  precipitated  into  the 
sea,  spreading  itself  in  a  layer  twenty  feet  thick  over  an 
extent  of  fifteen  acres. 

Against  what  were  these  formidable  engines  of  war  em- 
ployed ?  Against  what  was  this  gigantic  effort  of  the  hu- 
man mind  projected  ?  Simply  the  piled-up  skeletons  of  lit- 
tle animalcules  which  the  finger  would  crush  by  thousands ! 


32.   Chalk  of  Meuclon,  seen  with  the  microscope. 

The  shells  of  the  microscopic  molluscs  which  compose 
mountains  are  only  formed  of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  are 
so  extremely  small  that  it  has  been  calculated  it  would  re- 
quire about  10,000,000  to  make  a  pound  of  chalk,  and  that 
there  are  more  than  150,000,000  in  a  cubic  yard.  Favored 
by  their  inconceivable  fecundity,  these  animalcules  filled 


84  THE    UNIVERSE. 

up  the  cretaceous  seas,  and  by  accumulating  in  layers  at 
their  bottoms  their  skeletons  have  formed  the  great  masses 
of  chalk  strata  of  which,  at  the  present  time,  some  moun- 
tains are  composed.  Sometimes  they  are  solely  constituted 
of  little  shells  still  entire,  as  is  seen  in  the  rocks  of  Sicily 
and  the  chalk  of  Meudon,  when  submitted  to  the  micro- 
scope. Sometimes  the  weight  of  the  new  superimposed  lay- 
ers has  reduced  those  at  the  base  to  a  fine  powder,  and  then 
we  find  only  a  soft  thin  clay. 

To  sum  up,  then :  — 

The  layers  of  our  calcareous  mountains  may  be  of  three 
kinds  :  One  composed  of  entire  shells  piled  up  ;  the  second 
are  formed  of  shells  crushed  fine  ;  and,  finally,  there  are 
some  the  bulk  of  which  is  only  made  up  of  microscopic 
shells. 

The  formation  of  the  first  surprises,  that  of  the  latter 
confounds,  us. 


BOOK  III 


INSECTS. 

To  a  marvellous  delicacy  of  organization  these  animals 
join  a  still  more  marvellous  intelligence.  The  perfection  of 
their  microscopic  tools  would  lead  us  to  suppose  them  ca- 
pable of  executing  works  of  boundless  variety  ;  and  this  is, 
indeed,  the  case.  These  minute  creatures  often  build  up 
structures  of  an  elegance  and  size  that  far  surpass  all 
expectation.  These,  too,  are  so  varied  that  Reaumur, 
and  after  him  Rennie,  in  his  admirable  "Architecture  of 
Insects,"  grouped  the  workmen  in  castes.  Indeed,  among 
insects  there  are  evidently  architects,  masons,  upholsterers, 
paper-makers,  joiners,  pasteboard  makers,  and  hydraulic 
engineers.  Others  dislike  work,  and  are  veritable  pirates, 
always  engaged  in  war  and  pillage. 

We  find  also  in  this  class  extremes  of  size  and  strength. 
One  gigantic  beetle,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  Goliath,  may 
exceed  the  size  of  some  of  the  humming-birds,  which  he 
would  pitilessly  strangle  in  his  claws  if  he  caught  them  in 
his  path  ;  while  another  insect  may  be  so  small,  so  calcu- 
lated to  escape  notice,  that  we  only  discover  it  by  the  aid 
of  the  magnifying-glass. 

The  insect  class  displays  in  every  part  a  harmonious  or- 


86  THE    UNIVERSE. 

ganization,  which  at  the  first  glance  distinguishes  it  from 
all  others.     Nevertheless,  it  is  perhaps  the  section  of  the 


33.  Goliath  of  Drury  :  Goliathus  giganteus  (natural  size). 

animal  kingdom  in  which  we  observe  the  greatest  diversity 
of  form  ;  some  insects,  indeed,  display  at  times  such  anoma- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


8T 


lies  that  we  can  only  make  them  out  by  their  fundamental 
characteristics.  There  are  even  frequently  extreme  differ- 
ences between  the  male  and  the  female. 

Some  insects  possess  such  an  abnormal  exterior  that  they 
exactly  resemble  leaves  of  trees,  having  the  same  venation 
and  coloring ;  when  they  are  at  rest  we  might  take  them 


34.  The  Mormolyce  phyllodes  (natural  size). 

for  leaves,  and  even  the  greedy  bird  is  deceived  by  them. 
This  is  the  case  with  some  Mormolycae.  In  them  it  is  the 
wings  that  are  transformed  into  green  membranes,  which 
give  the  animal  the  appearance  of  an  animated  leaf. 

Some  insects  again  are  remarkable  from  the  strangeness, 
not  to  say  grotesqueness,  of  their  aspect,  especially,  for  in- 
stance, the  Membraceae,  the  corselets  of  which  are  studded 


88 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


with  points,  plates,  or  most  fantastic  knobs,  which  transform 
them  into  so  many  monstrosities.  On  looking  at  some  of 
them  one  might  take  them  for  insects  in  masquerade,  veri- 
table sports  of  nature,  —  lusus  naturce.  So  much  was  the 
old  entomologist,  Geoffroy,  struck  with  their  singular  forms 


35.  Various  Membraceae,  much  magnified.     "Little  Devils"  of  Geoffroy. 

that  he  gave  them  the  name  of  little  devils.  One  cannot 
really  conceive  what  purpose  so  many  fantastic  appendages, 
so  embarrassing  to  the  figure  and  movements  of  the  wear- 
ers, can  serve  among  these  fragile  tribes,  for  they  are  all  of 
the  smallest  dimensions. 

If  anything  in  insects  surpasses  the  diversity  of  forms,  it 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  89 

is  the  prodigious  variety  of  coloring.  Their  mantles  gleam 
with  the  richest  hues  in  nature.  Their  splendor  can  only 
be  compared  to  that  of  jewels  and  metals.  The  purest 
gold  and  silver,  the  sapphire  and  the  emerald,  gleam  on 
their  wings  and  corsages ;  their  tints  mingle  together,  melt 
abruptly,  or  imperceptibly  shade  into  each  other. 

Some  groups  are  more  particularly  remarkable  for  the 
richness  of  their  vestments,  as,  for  instance,  the  Buprestidse, 
which  owe  their  French  surname  of  "  Richards"  (million- 
aires) to  their  metallic  lustre;  such  are  also  the  Curculios, 
which  gleam  like  precious  stones,  and  which,  like  the  pre- 
ceding, are  used  instead  of  them  in  India  and  China,  where 
they  are  made  into  trinkets  for  women,  such  as  pins  and 
ear-drops. 


36.  Buprestis  imperialis.    '  37.  Cetonia  cervus. 

Among  the  brilliant  genera  we  find  also  the  Cetoniae,  of 
which  the  wing-cases  are  often  variegated  with  the  most 
beautiful  velvety  tints ;  and  lastly,  the  Carabi  and  the  Calo- 
somse,  all  glittering  with  gold. 

As  the  great  Linnaeus  said,  Nature  takes  no  leaps  (Natura 
nonfacit  salfam),  and  among  insects  she  proceeds,  as  else- 
where, by  insensible  transitions. 

We  are  accustomed  to  recognize  a  butterfly  only  by  its 


90 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


ample  wings ;  nevertheless  naturalists  have  discovered  many 
species  of  this  order  which  are  wingless.  But  although  we 
see  some  individuals  of  this  group  deprived  of  these  organs, 
others  exhibit  the  vestiges  of  them  to  show  the  gradation. 


38.  Phalcena  hyemalis,  male  and  female. 


39.  Phalcena  nuda,  male  and  female. 

Thus,  for  instance,  though  the  female  of  the  Phalcena 
nuda  (a  kind  of  moth)  is  entirely  deprived  of  wings,  we 
find  by  the  side  of  it  the  Phalcena  hyemalis,  the  female  of 
which  possesses  rudimentary  ones,  thus  forming  a  transition 
to  the  other  species  of  an  order,  the  members  of  which  have 
four  very  large  wings. 


40.  Stenopteryx  of  the  Swallow : 
Stenopteryx  hirundinis. 


41.  Melophagus  of  the  Sheep: 
Melophagus  ovis. 


In  like  manner,  when  we  examine  the  lower  members  of 
the  order  of  flies  or  Diptera,  we  find  the  same  modifications 
there  also. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  91 

Certain  flies  (Stenopteryx)  which  never  fly,  and  remain  all 
their  lives  adherent  to  the  feathers  of  the  swallow,  have 
nevertheless  vestiges  of  wings,  quite  unsuited  to  flight ; 
whilst  others  (Melophagus),  still  more  degraded,  have  none 
at  all,  and  pass  their  lives  clinging  to  the  wool  of  the  sheep. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MARVELS    OF   INSECT   ORGANIZATION. 

THE  torch  of  anatomy  has  shed  a  flood  of  light  upon  the 
organization  of  the  inferior  animals,  and  the  microscope,  by 
allowing  us  to  pry  into  the  most  intricate  structural  details, 
has  unfolded  before  our  eyes  a  field  as  vast  as  it  was  unex- 
pected. But  we  must  acknowledge,  that  if  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  infinitely  small  has  acquired  such  an  advanced 
degree  of  certainty,  this  result  is  due  to  men  who  have 
often  devoted  all  their  lives  to  the  task. 

An  advocate  of  Maestricht,  Lyonet,  passed  nearly  all  his 
life  in  studying  a  caterpillar  which  gnaws  the  wood  of  the 
willow,  and  produced  on  this  insect  one  of  the  most  splen- 
did monuments  of  human  patience. 

Goedart,  a  Dutch  painter,  spent  twenty  of  his  best  years 
in  watching  the  metamorphoses  of  insects, —  a  most  inter- 
esting spectacle  for  him  who  looks  at  it  with  the  eye  of 
religion.  Hence,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  brilliant  parties 
(into  which  affliction  makes  its  way  despite  both  pomp  and 
gold),  he  felt  tempted  to  exclaim,  "  Ah  !  let  me  rather  see 
a  butterfly  born.  In  his  puniest  creatures  God  reveals  his 


92 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


power  and  majesty ;  you,  in  your  splendid  fetes,  often  dis- 
play only  your  weakness  and  misery  !  " 

Anatomically  and  physiologically  speaking,   the  human 
mechanism  seems  rude  and  coarse  when  we  compare  it  with 

the  exquisite  delicacy  revealed  in  the 
organism  of  certain  animals.  But  in 
us  the  intellect,  the  real  sceptre  of 
the  universe,  predominates  over  the 
apparent  imperfection  of  the  material 
part.  Through  it  man  alone  ap- 
proaches those  chosen  creatures  who 
shine  near  the  throne  of  the  Eternal, 
and  form  a  bond  of  union  between 
42.  Mosquito,  highly  magnified:  heaven  and  earth;  if  in  his  structure 

Cafe*  M  Linn.),  u       V '  1  1,1, 

he   belong  to  our  sphere,  he  seems 
already  to  elevate  himself  towards  the  supreme  Essence  by 

1  There  are  many  species  of  gnats,  distinguished  by  the  generic  name  Culex, 
but  all  having  a  similar  conformation  and  similar  habits.  The  species  found  in 
foreign  countries  are  generally  known  as  mosquitoes  ;  but  mosquitoes  and  gnats 

are  the  same  thing. 

The  weapon  with  which  the  gnat  makes 
its  attack  is  a  long  and  slender  proboscis, 
which  projects  from  the  mouth  like  a 
very  fine  bristle,  appearing  to  the  naked 
eye  quite  simple.  Under  the  magnify- 
ing power  of  the  microscope,  however,  it 
is  seen  to  be  a  flexible  sheath  (?)  inclos- 
ing six  distinct  pieces,  two  of  which  are 
cutting  blades  or  lancets  (#),  two  notched 
like  a  saw  with  reverted  teeth  (/),  a 
tubular  canal  (e),  and  the  central  one  an 
excessively  acute  point,  which  is  also  tubular  (</).  When  the  attack  is  made, 
the  gnat  brings  the  tip  of  the  organ  within  its  sheath  to  press  upon  the  skin,  into 


43.  Organs  of  the  Mouth  of  the  Gnat. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  93 

the  splendor  of  his  genius,  —  a  grand  and  philosophic  truth, 
which  a  glance  at  the  organization  of  insects  will  instantly 
demonstrate. 

In  her  slightest  sketches  Nature  knows  how  to  unite 
power  to  an  exquisite  fineness  of  mechanism ;  the  first 
glance  at  insects  proves  this,  and  thus,  so  soon  as  their  in- 
teresting history  is  displayed  before  us,  we  feel  no  longer 
tempted  to  treat  them  with  the  disdain  that  poets  have 
shown.  A  simple  butterfly,  a  single  fly,  humbles  the  pride 
of  man,  and  in  spite  of  all  he  can  do  levels  his  forests,  de- 
vours his  crops,  and  reduces  him  to  despair. 

Simple  little  two-winged  flies,  gnats  and  mosquitoes,  the 
puny  appearance  of  which  would  never  lead  one  to  dread 
aggression  from  such  a  quarter,  are  nevertheless  enemies  of 
the  most  inconvenient  kind  to  our  species.  In  some  coun- 
tries, where  they  swarm  by  myriads  on  all  sides,  man  is 
forced  to  succumb  to  their  hostility,  and  only  avoids  their 
attacks  by  adapting  his  abode  and  manner  of  living  to  the 
emergency.  At  the  time  when  the  mosquitoes  are  most 
prevalent  in  Senegal,  the  negroes,  notwithstanding  the  con- 
straint of  such  a  kind  of  life,  remain  constantly  enveloped 

which  it  presently  enters,  the  sheath  remaining  without  and  bending  into  an 
angle  as  the  lancets  descend.  When  the  weapon  has  penetrated  to  its  base  —  a 
distance  of  one"sixth  of  an  inch  or  more  —  the  lancets  move  laterally,  and  thus 
cut  the  flesh  on  either  side,  promoting  the  flow  of  blood  from  the  superficial  ves- 
sels ;  at  the  same  moment  a  highly  irritative  fluid  is  poured  into  the  wound, 
which  has  the  effect  of  diluting  the  blood,  and  thus  of  rendering  it  more  capable 
of  flowing  up  the  slender  central  tube  into  the  throat  of  the  insect.  It  then  sucks, 
if  undisturbed,  till  its  stomach  is  filled  to  repletion,  leaving  a  painful  tumor  ac- 
companied with  an  intolerable  itching.  It  is  the  female  gnat  alone  which  is 
noxious  ;  the  male,  whose  proboscis  is  feathered,  has  no  power  of  sucking  blood. 


94  THE   UNIVERSE. 

in  the  midst  of  thick  smoke.  For  this  purpose  they  set  up 
regular  roosts  formed  of  branches,  and  suspended  above 
masses  of  wood  which  burn  perpetually  beneath  them. 
Squatted  on  these  they  receive  their  friends  during  the 
day,  and  at  night,  heated  from  below  and  smoked  on  all 
sides,  they  stretch  themselves  on  them  in  order  to  sleep.  In 
the  Southern  United  States  it  is  also  a  common  practice  to 
resort  to  a  smoke  as  a  protection  against  the  attacks  of 
gnats  and  mosquitoes,  both  in-doors  and  in  the  field. 

Some  savage  races  only  free  themselves  from  the  on- 
slaughts of  this  accursed  brood  by  smearing  their  bodies 
with  a  filthy  coating  of  grease;  and  it  is  to  protect  himself 
against  them  that  the  miserable  Laplander  condemns  him- 
self to  be  smoked  all  day  long  in  his  dark  hut.  The  com- 
panions of  the  astronomer  Maupertuis  were  so  tormented  by 
the  stings  of  the  mosquitoes  during  their  travels  in  Lapland 
that,  to  free  themselves  from  them,  they  had  recourse  to  the 
extreme  measure  of  covering  their  faces  with  tar. 

An  ordinary -looking  fly  infesting  Africa  is  still  more  for- 
midable :  it  disputes  the  soil  with  us  foot  by  foot ;  there  is 
a  struggle  between  man  and  it  as  to  which  shall  have  pos- 
session. Where  it  lives  it  prevents  him  from  carrying  on 
agriculture,  and  limits  his  explorations ;  he  can  only  become 
master  of  the  soil  when  he  has  exterminated  it.  This  fly, 
generally  called  tsetse  by  the  natives,  is  shaped  like  our 
common  species,  and  seems  to  all  appearance  equally  in- 
offensive, but  its  mouth  secretes  a  venom  the  activity  of 
which  by  far  surpasses  that  of  the  most  poisonous  serpents. 
A  few  stings  of  the  tsetse  are  enough  to  kill  the  strongest 
ox  in  a  short  time ;  and  yet  if  we  attempted  to  ascertain 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


95 


the  weight  of  its  poison  apparatus  by  means  of  the  most 
delicate  balance,  we  should  perhaps  find  the  calculation 
impossible  on  account  of  its  smallness. 

It  is  an  inexplicable  anomaly  that  this  fly,  which  inevita- 
bly kills  certain  animals,  does  not  injure  others.  It  selects 
all  its  victims  from  our  cattle  ;  the  goat  and  the  ass  alone 
defy  its  sting.  Nor  do  its  attacks  produce  any  effect  upon 
man  and  wild  animals.  But  what  is  still  more  singular,  this 


44.  The  Tsetse  Fly.    a,  Natural  size;  b,  magnified;  c,  proboscis  magnified. 

dipterous  insect  kills  the  adult  animal,  but  sucks  the  blood 
of  its  offspring  without  doing  any  mischief.  The  tsetse 
quickly  poisons  the  full-grown  ox,  but  produces  no  effect 
upon  the  calf.  Livingstone  says  that  during  his  wanderings 
his  children  were  frequently  stung  by  it,  without  ever  suf- 
fering in  the  least  degree ;  in  fact,  they  paid  no  attention 
to  it ;  whilst  the  deadly  fly  killed  forty-three  oxen  in  spite 
of  the  strictest  watch. 


96  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  tsetse  infests  both  banks  of  the  Zambesi,  and  moves 
only  to  a  short  distance  from  them  ;  it  catches  its  victims  as 
they  make  the  passage,  and  darts  upon  them  with  the  speed 
of  an  arrow.  Dr.  Livingstone  says  that  at  the  time  he  trav- 
elled in  this  region  these  flies  sometimes  buzzed  round  his 
head  and  those  of  his  fellow-travellers  as  thick  as  a  swarm 
of  bees.  They  were  often  'stung  all  over,  as  were  also  their 
asses,  but  without  either  themselves  or  their  beasts  of  bur- 
den experiencing  any  troublesome  result.  The  sting  of  this 
blood-sucker  being  fatal  to  our  domestic  animals,  the  ox, 
horse,  sheep,  and  dog,  in  the  countries  it  devastates,  the 
goat  and  ass  make  up  the  sum  total  of  agricultural  cattle. 

The  victims  know  their  executioner ;  and  when  the  hum 
of  one  of  these  flies  rings  in  the  ears  of  the  cattle  they  fly, 
struck  with  fright,  in  every  direction. 

Such  pests  as  these  not  only  paralyze  agriculture,  but 
place  a  limit  to  the  explorations  of  man.  Deprived  of  his 
beasts  of  burden  and  his  food,  he  cannot  pass  through  the 
country  of  the  redoubtable  fly  ;  and  if,  by  chance,  he  can 
brave  the  danger,  it  is  only  by  taking  advantage  of  the 
time  of  its  repose.  Whenever  one  is  obliged  to  send  flocks 
of  sheep  or  herds  of  cattle  across  countries  infested  by  the 
tsetse,  the  natives  choose  cold  moonlight  nights,  knowing 
that  at  such  times  the  insect,  sunk  in  sleep,  will  not  sting 
the  cattle. 

The  domestic  fly,  inoffensive  in  our  dwellings,  torments 
without  ceasing  those  who  travel  in  hot  countries.  There 
it  is  dreaded  more  than  the  hyaena  and  jackal,  and  we  can 
only  guard  against  it  by  having  a  crowd  of  slaves  about  us. 
In  some  of  the  villages  of  Upper  Egypt  I  have  sometimes 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  97 

seen  in  their  mothers'  arms  children  at  the  breast,  whose 
faces  were  covered  by  such  dense  swarms  of  flies  that  the 
insects  looked  like  crawling  black  masks.1  All  were  hard 
at  work  with  their  probosces,  the  delicate  anatomy  of 
which  surpasses  everything  one  can  imagine. 

With  us  it  is  quite  an  exceptional  occurrence  for  the 
house-fly  to  attack  man.  Nevertheless,  the  meat-fly  some- 
times mistakes  persons  sunk  in  the  degrading  sleep  of 
drunkenness  for  dead  bodies.  When  they  awake  the  active 
offspring  of  their  assailant  are  already  gnawing  their  palpi- 
tating flesh,  and  making  their  way  under  the  skin  of  their 
cheeks  and  skull :  a  horrible  infliction,  which  is  certain  to 
end  fatally. 

But  it  is  especially  in  our  forests  and  fields  that  insects 
leave  such  lamentable  marks  of  their  passage.  Their  le- 

1  I  am  not  speaking  at  all  hyperbolically  here.  The  children  I  mention  had 
their  faces  literally  covered  with  a  layer  of  flies,  which  only  allowed  their  eyes  to 
be  seen. 

Some  years  ago  one  of  our  great  surgeons,  Jules  Cloquet,  published  an  account 
of  a  drunken  man  who,  having  fallen  asleep  in  the  open  air  near  Pans,  was  car- 
ried to  one  of  the  hospitals  in  that  city  with  legions  of  blow-flies  developed  in  his 
nose  and  ears,  from  whence  they  had  hollowed  out  paths  between  the  skull  and 
the  hairy  scalp.  The  irritation  and  suppuration  which  they  set  up  speedily  oc- 
casioned the  death  of  this  person.  A  case  of  death  from  this  cause  is  also  men- 
tioned by  Kirby  and  Spence. 

In  saying  that  an  insect  often  causes  the  death  of  a  man,  we  have  only  stated 
a  sad  truth.  The  sucking  Diptera,  such  as  the  gadfly,  the  fly,  and  gnat,  after 
sating  themselves  with  the  fluids  of  a  corpse  in  a  state  of  putrefaction  attack 
man,  introducing  the  germs  of  death  by  means  of  their  lips  tainted  with  pesti- 
lential humors.  The  sting  of  these  insects  frequently  produces  gangrenous 
affections,  and  especially  malignant  pustule,  under  which  the  patients  succumb. 
Several  cases  have  been  seen  in  the  London  hospitals  of  serious  disease  from  ir- 
ritation set  up  by  the  Musca  carnaria.  —  See  Diet,  des  Sc.  Me'd.,  t.  xlvi.  p.  258. 


9.8  THE    UNIVERSE. 

gions  descend  in  frightful  numbers  on  certain  plants  and 
trees.  According  to  Ratzeburg,  the  pine-tree  alone  serves 
as  a  refuge  for  more  than  400  species,  the  greater  part  of 
which  are  hurtful  to  it;  and  Charles  Miiller  tells  us  that 
the  oak  extends  its  hospitality  to  upwards  of  200  kinds  of 
insects  which  are  united  to  it  by  their  parasitic  existence. 


45.  The  Py rails  of  the  Vine  in  its  different  stages :  Pyralis  strigulalis. 

Certain  velvet  -  winged  Phalenoe,  notwithstanding  that 
they  seem  so  harmless  as  they  fly  by  night,  in  a  short  space 
of  time  devastate  the  most  magnificent  forests  of  Coniferae, 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  99 

and  open  out  extensive  clearings  in  their  sombre  shades 
more  quickly  than  the  axe  of  the  woodman. 

In  some  regions  of  Europe  a  little  yellow  fly  streaked  with 
black,  the  Chlorops  lineata,  alarms  the  farmer  by  attack- 
ing the  grain  crops.  Linnaeus  says  that  in  Sweden  this  fly, 
unassisted,  destroys  more  than  the  fifth  part  of  the  barley 
crops,  —  equivalent  at  least  to  100,000  tons.  In  Central 
France  this  insect  sometimes  devours  half  the  ears  of  corn 
in  the  fields.1  Another,  the  olive-tree  Dacus,  is  the  cause 
of  losing  every  year  3,000,000  olives.  Finally,  a  butterfly, 
the  Pyralis  of  the  vine,  carries  despair  into  all  our  wine 
countries,  which  have  now  for  a  long  time  vainly  implored 
the  aid  of  science. 

When  trees,  attacked  by  dense  swarms  of  insects,  do  not 
sink  under  their  fangs,  they  escape  with  singular  deform- 
ities.2 

The  sting  of  an  extremely  small  insect,  the  woolly  aphis 
(Aphis  lanigera),  which,  when  on  the  branches,  would 
elude  the  eye  were  it  not  enveloped  in  a  tuft  of  white  wool, 
covers  our  apple-trees  with  numerous  excrescences,  and 
these  often  end  by  killing  it. 

The  wounds  inflicted  by  insects  also  give  rise  to  those 

1  The   Chlorops  lineata,  a  fly  the  name  of  which  indicates  its  yellow  colors 
barred  with  black,  makes  such  havoc  in  the  wheat  fields  that  those  who  have 
followed  up  its  history  maintain  that  it  would  soon  annihilate  this  cereal  alto- 
gether if  its  increase  in  numbers  were  not  checked  by  different  causes.     Another 
insect  undertakes  this  task,  and  carries  it  out  to  a  considerable  extent;  this  is 
Alysia  Olivieri,  which  perforates  the  eggs  of  the  Chlorops  with  its  ovipositor,  in 
order  to  secure  a  shelter  for  its  own  offspring. 

2  In  the  magnificent  plates  of  Ratzeburg's  work  on  the  insects  of  the  forest 
may  be  seen  a  representation  of  a  forest  quite  deformed  by  the  attacks  of  the 
pine-twister.  —  Hylophthires  et  lews  Ennemis.     Leipzig,  1842. 


100  THE   UNIVERSE. 

tufts  of  deformed,  closely-set  branches,  which  appear  in  the 
tops  of  the  pine-trees,  and  to  which  the  German  foresters 
give  the  name  of  witches'  "brooms  ;  strange-looking  bunches, 
which  the  superstitious  wood-cutters  of  the  Hartz  fear  to 
touch  less  they  should  be  struck  by  a  thunderbolt,  for  they 
believe  these  growths  attract  the  lightning.  They  there- 
fore call  them  also  thunder-bushes -1 

In  the  domain  of  the  infinitely  little  the  physiological 
phenomena  astonish  us  no  less  than  the  extreme  slightness 
of  the  motive  organs  !  A  single  comparison  will  demon- 
strate this. 

When  we  communicate  an  elevating  movement  to  our 
arms,  and  suddenly  bring  them  back  to  the  body,  a  second 
of  time  will  scarcely  suffice  for  the  act ;  but,  according  to 
the  experiments  of  Herschel,  some  insects  vibrate  their 
wings  several  hundred  times  in  this  short  period  ! 

M.  Cagniard-Latour  affirms  that  a  gnat  vibrates  its  wings 
500  times  in  a  second. 

Mr.  Nicholson  goes  still  further ;  he  asserts  that  the  vi- 
brations of  the  wing  of  the  common  fly  are  as  many  as  600 
in  a  second,  since  it  passes  through  space  at  the  rate  of  six 
feet  in  this  time.  But  this  observer  adds  that,  for  rapid 
flight,  we  must  multiply  this  number  by  six,  which  means 
that  in  a  second,  or  the  time  we  require  to  execute  a  single 
movement  of  one  of  our  members,  the  fly,  with  its  wing,  can 
perform  3600.  The  mind  is  stupefied  at  such  calculations, 

1  Schacht,  who  has  described  the  witch-brooms  at  full  length,  seems  to  at- 
tribute them  to  the  stings  of  insects,  which  determine  an  exuberant  flow  of  vital 
powers  to  the  part  where  they  have  been  inflicted.  He  says  that  these  brooms, 
when  they  are  covered  with  leaves,  look,  if  seen  at  a  distance,  like  a  great  mistle- 
toe. —  Schacht,  Les  Arlres.  Bruxelles,  1862,  p.  140. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  101 

and  yet  they  are  of  unimpeachable  accuracy  !  This  marvel- 
lous rapidity  of  movement  in  the  wings  of  insects  explains 
the  astonishing  ease  with  which  they  fly.  As  M.  Blanchard 
says,  "  In  our  days  the  railway  traveller,  carried  at  full 
speed,  often  amuses  himself  by  watching  from  the  window 
the  movements  of  the  gnats  that  flit  about  with  incompar- 
able ease.  These  puny  flies,  notwithstanding  the  agitation 
of  the  air,  dart  backwards  and  forwards,  wheel,  rise,  sinkj 


46.  Sphinx  Galii  sipping  up  Honey. 

and  continue  their  gyrations  for  hours  at  a  time,  as  if  they 
were  there  to  show  us  that  the  greatest  speed  we  can  attain 
is  trifling  compared  to  the  power  of  their  delicate  wings." 

After  this  we  are  no  longer  astonished  at  the  activity 
shown  by  some  butterflies,  such  as  the  sphinx,  when  they 


102 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


rifle  the  flowers  of  our  gardens.  They  flit  from  one  to  the 
other  with  the  speed  of  an  arrow,  and,  like  the  humming- 
birds, they  hang  motionless  before  the  corolla,  plunging 
their  long  tongues  to  the  bottom  in  order  to  sip  the  nectar, 
whilst  their  wings  are  agitated  by  movements  which  the 
eye  cannot  follow ! 

The  delicacy  of  these  aerial  oars  is  not  less  remarkable 
than  their  movements. 

However  gently  we  take  hold  of  the  wing  of  a  butterfly, 
our  fingers  never  leave  it  without  having  some  particles 
adhering,  which  seem  only  a  fine  dust,  the  source  of  the 


BSffl 


47.  Scales  from  the  Wings  of  different  Butterflies,  seen  with  the  microscope. 

magnificent  coloring  of  the  insect.  But  when  this  dust  is 
submitted  to  microscopic  examination,  the  observer  is  sur- 
prised to  see  that  each  of  these  grains  represents  a  little 
flattened  plate,  lengthened  out  and  of  a  delicate  and  com- 
plicated structure,  which  reflects  the  most  magical  colors. 
One  of  its  extremities  is  generally  toothed  more  or  less 
deeply,  whilst  the  other  displays  only  a  little  pedicle,  by 
which  each  imperceptible  scale  is  attached  to  the  trans- 
parent membrane  of  the  wing. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


103 


If  a  portion  of  this  be  now  examined  by  the  aid  of  a  low 
magnifying  power,  it  will  be  seen  that  all  the  scales  are  ar- 
ranged with  admirable  symmetry, 
one  above  the  other,  like  the  tiles 
on  a  roof,  and  as  they  are  of  uni- 
form shape,  and  often  of  very 
varied  colors,  the  surface  of  the 
wing  closely  resembles  a  mosaic 
of  marvellous  fineness,  not  like 
that  of  our  artists,  but  like  the 
result  of  divine  art. 

Our  varied  movements  are  ex- 
ecuted by  the  aid  of  voluminous 
fleshy  muscles  attached  to  the 
skeleton.  In  respect  to  these  the 
insect  possesses  both  a  numerical 
and  a  dynamical  superiority  over 
the  human  race.  Anatomists  cal- 
culate that  there  are  only  370  of 
these  muscles  in  man,  whilst  the 
patient  Lyonet  discovered  more 
than  4000  in  a  single  caterpillar. 

Insects  equally  surpass  us  in 
respect  to  strength.  A  man  of 
average  physical  powers  cannot  48-  Muscular  Apparatus  &  the  wniow- 

.  Eating  Caterpillar  :  Cossus  ligniperda. 

move  without  difficulty  a  weight 

of  forty-four  pounds,  placed  horizontally.  As  he  himself 
weighs  from  150  to  200  pounds,  he  only  moves  in  so  doing 
a  mass  the  weight  of  which  does  not  equal  a  third  of  that 
of  his  body.  If  we  subject  a  mole-cricket  to  the  same  test, 


104  THE    UNIVERSE. 

the  results  are  quite  extraordinary.  This  creature,  which 
only  weighs  about  sixty-two  grains,  can  with  its  two  large 
hands  move  a  weight  of  about  three  pounds  five  ounces, 
which  means  that  it  displays  a  strength  375  times  exceed- 
ing its  own  weight ! 

The  most  superficial  observation  serves  to  show  the  ex- 
traordinary strength  possessed  by  insects.  Sir  Walter  Scott 
has  related  that  a  garden-snail  placed  under  a  candlestick 
moved  it  from  its  place  by  the  efforts  it  made  to  regain  its 
liberty ;  the  same  thing,  Sir  Walter  says,  as  if  a  prisoner 
in  Newgate  were  to  shake  the  prison  walls  by  his  efforts 
to  escape. 

Notwithstanding  their  minuteness  and  the  delicacy  of 
their  anatomy,  some  other  insects  also  exhibit  a  compara- 
tive strength  which  astonishes  us.  Although  it  is  almost 
puerile  to  speak  of  the  flea,  still  we  may  take  it  for  an  in- 
stance, as  it  is,  unfortunately,  known  everywhere.  M.  de 
Fonvielle,  in  his  interesting  work  on  the  "  Invisible  World," 
maintains  that  it  can  raise  itself  from  the  ground  to  a  height 
equal  to  200  times  its  stature.  At  this  rate,  he  says,  a  man 
would  only  make  a  joke  of  jumping  over  the  towers  of 
Notre-Dame  and  the  heights  of  Montmartre,  and  a  prison 
would  be  an  impossibility  unless  the  walls  were  built  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  height. 

If  we  can  scarcely  believe  in  the  prodigious  movements 
of  the  wings  of  insects  and  its  mosaic  of  jewelry,  their  feet, 
though  less  agile  and  less  adorned,  are  yet  equally  worthy 
of  our  attention.  Those  of  the  working-bee  are  perfect 
masterpieces ;  they  exhibit  at  one  and  the  same  time  a  bas- 
ket, a  brush,  and  a  pair  of  pincers.  The  brush  is  an  article 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  105 

of  extreme  fineness,  the  hairs  of  which,  arranged  in  symmet- 
rical rows,  are  only  to  be  seen  with  the  microscope ;  with 
this  brush,  of  fairy  deli- 
cacy, the  bee  continually 
brushes  her  velvet  robe  to 
remove  the  pollen  dust  with 
which  it  becomes  loaded 

i  -T    ,      i       .        .n.          .,        n  49.  Brush  and  Pincers  of  the  Common  Bee. 

whilst  she  is  rimng  the  now- 

ers  and  sucking  up  the  nectar.  Another  article,  which  is 
hollowed  like  a  spoon,  receives  all  the  gleanings  which  the 
insect  carries  to  the  hive ;  it  is  a  basket  for  provisions.  Fi- 
nally, by  opening  them  one  upon  another,  by  means  of  a 
hinge,  those  two  pieces  become  a  pair  of  pincers,  which  ren- 
der important  service  in  the  construction  of  the  combs,  and 


50.  Bee  seen  from  below  with  its  Ventral  Segments  of  Wax. 

it  is  with  them  that  the  bee  lays  hold  of  the  semicircles  of 
wax  below  its  abdomen,  and  carries  them  to  its  mouth. 

In  some  aquatic  insects  each  foot  is  transformed  into  a 
delicate  oar,  as  is  seen  in  the  Dytiscus,  in  which  it  is  flat- 
tened out  and  bordered  with  cilia  or  delicate  hairs,  so  that 
a  larger  surface  may  strike  the  water.  Others,  like  the 


106  THE    UNIVERSE. 

flies,  have  at  the  extremities  of  their  limbs  a  kind  of  small 
notched  lamellse,  which  allow  them  to  adhere  to  glass  and 
the  most  polished  bodies. 

How  rough  and  coarse  the  works  of  man  appear  by  the 
side  of  those  of  nature  !  Compare  the  instruments  which 
the  insect  uses  for  its  work  with  those  which  we  employ. 
Behold  its  saws,  its  rakes,  its  brushes,  its  chisels ;  compare 
them  with  ours,  and  you  will  at  once  admit  that  the  tools 
fabricated  by  man  are  all  immeasurably  inferior  to  what 
the  insect  possesses.  The  scalpel  of  the  anatomist  seems  to 
have  an  edge  of  delicate  workmanship  ;  its  polish  attracts 
us :  examine  it  with  the  microscope,  and  you  are  surprised 


51.  Hind  Feet,  used  as  Ciliary  Oars,  in  the  male  and  female  Dytiscus,  and  the  Prehensile 

Foot  of  the  male. 

to  see  it  transformed  into  a  coarse  saw-blade.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  point  of  a  needle ;  it  becomes  an  imperfect 
awl.  Scrutinize  the  scythes,  the  darts,  or  the  rakes  of  an 
insect,  and  everything  there  reveals  the  power  of  the  Ar- 
chitect of  so  many  marvels.  The  claw  of  the  lion  is  im- 
mensely less  complicated  than  that  of  the  spider  ! 

In  the  creatures  which  we  are  now  studying  the  tactile 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  107 

faculty  acquires  a  marvellous  development ;  it  supplies  the 
want  of  a  language  ;  the  ants  talk -to  each  other  by  touch. 
One  could  not  believe  this  if  a  careful  observer  had  not  de- 
monstrated it,  and  yet  the  fact  is  so  obvious  that  any  one 
can  at  any  time  verify  it.  When  two  of  these  intelligent 
insects  meet  in  their  career,  we  see  that  they  touch  each 
other  differently  with  their  antennae,  and  that  after  doing 
this  they  seem  to  form  some  fresh  resolution  in  consequence 
of  this  tactile  communication,  which  Huber  calls  antennal 
language. 

The  following  experiment,  undertaken  by  this  naturalist, 
gives  incontestable  evidence  in  favor  of  the  fact.  Having 
placed  a  colony  of  ants  in  a  closed  and  darkened  chamber, 
he  remarked  that  at  first  they  all  scattered  in  disorder ;  but 


52.  Claw  of  the  Lion. 

he  soon  noticed  that  if  an  individual,  in  the  course  of  his 
peregrinations,  discovered  an  outlet,  he  returned  to  the 
midst  of  the  others ;  of  these  he  touched  a  certain  number, 
and  after  this  communication  the  whole  population  assem- 
bled in  regular  lines,  which  marched  out  under  the  impulse 
of  one  common  thought,  that  of  liberty  regained. 

In  all  the  large  animals  there  are  but  two  eyes ;  in  this 
respect  the  smallest  insect  is  infinitely  better  provided  than 
they  are.  The  ant,  the  visual  apparatus  of  which  is  one  of 


108  THE    UNIVERSE. 

the  least  perfect,  possesses  fifty.  The  common  fly  has  8000, 
and  in  certain  butterflies  as  many  as  25,000  have  been 
counted.  Each  of  these  organs,  too,  presents,  in  micro- 
scopic proportions,  the  greater  number  of  the  structures 
which  enter  into  the  composition  of  the  globe  of  our  eye. 
Closely  packed  together,  these  eyes  make  up  for  their  im- 
mobility by  their  bulk,  and  this  is  so  great  that  in  some 
flies  the  eyes  almost  cover  the  head,  and  even  constitute  a 
fourth  part  of  the  weight  of  the  body. 


53.  Spider's  Claw,  seen  with  the  microscope. 

This  powerful  optic  apparatus  exhibits  some  curious  mod- 
ifications which  reveal  the  habits  of  insects. 

Those  which  seek  their  prey  by  night  have  their  eyes 
more  deeply  set,  in  order  better  to  absorb  the  least  lumi- 
nous rays.  In  the  flesh-eating  insects  they  are  larger.  In 
some  aquatic  species  the  head  is  furnished  with  several 
pairs,  some  directed  upward,  others  downward,  in  such  a 
way  that,  while  swimming  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  the 
animal  can  see  at  the  same  time  the  fish  which  menaces 
it  from  the  depths,  and  the  bird  which  is  about  to  swoop 
upon  it  from  above.  From  the  former  it  escapes  by  flight, 
and  from  the  latter  by  diving.1 

1  We  speak  here  of  the  little  whirlwigs,  elegant  aquatic  beetles  of  extreme 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  109 

The  insect  is  endowed  with  an  exquisite  fineness  of 
smell.  The  slightest  odor  is  perceived  by  it  at  very  great 
distances.  In  the  perfumed  air  exhaling  from  the  thousand 
plants  of  a  meadow  or  garden,  it  distinguishes  the  one  it 
loves  and  settles  upon  it,  to  tear  it  in  pieces  or  deposit  its 
offspring  on  it. 

The  flesh-eating  insect  discerns  at  very  great  distances 
the  smell  of  an  animal  on  which  it  feeds.  If  a  morsel  of 
meat  be  totally  covered  with  a  black  bell-glass,  its  exha- 
lations quickly  attract  the  flies  to  a  spot  where  previously 
there  was  not  one  to  be  seen. 

The  winged  creature  never  makes  a  mistake  ;  or  if,  un- 
der very  unusual  circumstances,  it  should  happen  to  do  so, 
it  would  be  because  there  was  a  perfect  identity  between 
the  odorous  emanations.  For  instance,  the  putrid  exhala- 
tions from  the  flowers  of  the  Stapelia  and  Arum  attract 
some  insects  just  as  putrid  meat  would  ;  and  these,  deceived 
by  a  false  resemblance,  deposit  upon  the  plant  their  off- 
spring, which  must  infallibly  die  of  hunger. 

But  where  does  a  sense  so  delicate  reside  ?  Analogy 
made  Reaumur  and  De  Blamville  think  it  ought  to  be  placed 
in  the  antennae,  those  little  mobile  horns  set  on  the  front  of 
the  head,  and  presenting  the  greatest  diversity  of  form  ; 
being  sometimes  lengthened  like  articulated  threads,  some- 
times lamellated,  or  bulged  out  in  the  form  of  clubs  or 
bladders.  The  antennae  do,  indeed,  like  the  nostrils  of 

brilliancy,  which  sparkle  like  diamonds  when  the  sun  lights  upon  them  on  the 
surface  of  the  water,  where  they  pirouette  constantly  with  surprising  velocity  : 
hence  the  name  whirlwigs.  These  insects  have  four  groups  of  eyes  in  their  heads. 
Of  these  two  are  placed  below,  and  give  them  notice  of  what  is  going  on  in  the 
depths  of  the  water;  the  two  others  are  turned  toward  the  sky. 


110  THE   UNIVERSE. 


animals,  receive  the  first  pair  of  nerves  which  issue  from 
the  brain  ;  and  some  experiments  conducted  by  Duges  tend 
to  show  that  they  really  represent  the  organ  of  smell. 
After  cutting  them  in  some  butterflies  and  flies,  this  physi- 
ologist observed  that  they  could  no  longer  roam  in  search 
of  their  food  and  the  female  insect. 

But  the  extreme  acuteness  of  smell  manifested  by  some 
insects  is  only  obtained  by  means  of  organs  of  marvellous 
delicacy,  and  so  complicated  as  to  surpass  at  times  all  our 
preconceived  ideas.  Man  and  the  larger  animals  have 
never  more  than  two  olfactory  cavities ;  in  fishes  these  are 
reduced  to  a  pair  of  little  sacks  scarcely  to  be  seen.  In 
the  May-bug  odors  are  perceived  by  means  of  microscopic 
pouches,  but  instead  of  being  limited  to  two,  these  pouches 
are  many  thousands  in  number.  Here  the  infinitely  little 
surpasses  the  infinitely  great ;  the  insect  outstrips  the  ele- 
phant. 

There  must  necessarily  be  organs  of  hearing  in  insects, 
because  they  are  attracted  together  by  certain  sounds,  and 
even  possess  a  very  varied  set  of  instruments  wherewith  to 
produce  sounds.  But  we  do  not  yet  know  where  their  audi- 
tory apparatus  is.1 

One  very  extraordinary  fact  is  that  these  animals  only 

1  Latreille  seems  to  think  that  the  auditory  organ  of  insects  may  be  seated  at  the 
base  of  the  antennae,  because  in  certain  Orthoptera  there  are  at  this  spot  traces 
of  the  membranes  of  the  tympanum,  as  is  observed  in  some  crustaceans. 

In  order  to  omit  none  of  the  recent  conquests  of  science,  we  should  also  men- 
tion that  Cnvier  and  Dumeril  place  the  seat  of  smell  at  the  orifice  of  those  small 
openings,  like  button-holes,  called  stigmata,  by  which  the  air  enters  the  trachea. 
And,  in  fact,  there  is  here  a  manifest  analogy  with  the  position  of  the  nose,  which, 
in  the  large  animals,  is  placed  at  the  entrance  to  the  respiratory  apparatus. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  Ill 

seem  to  hear  sounds  which  are  serviceable  to  them,  whilst 
others,  whatever  be  their  intensity,  do  not  affect  them  in 
any  way.  The  queen-bee,  by  means  of  a  scarcely  per- 
ceptible hum,  sets  all  her  people  in  movement,  and  com- 
pels an  army  of  combatants  to  follow  her ;  but  if,  on  the 
contrary,  fire-arms  be  discharged  quite  close  to  a  colony  of 
bees,  not  one  of  them  stirs;  it  seems  as  if  the  sound  was  not 
noticed  by  them. 


54.  Diversiform  Antennae. 

The  horse  has  only  one  stomach,  the  insect  has  often 
three  :  in  the  former  it  occupies  only  a  somewhat  limited 
portion  of  the  body;  in  the  other  it  sometimes  forms  almost 
the  entire  body,  the  animal  resembling  a  walking  digestive 
sack.  The  ravenous  activity  of  many  Orthoptera  (locusts, 
etc.)  is  even  aided  by  great  teeth,  placed  in  the  interior  of 
the  stomach,  which  act  like  a  second  mouth,  and  complete 
the  crushing  of  anything  that  has  escaped  the  action  of  the 
jaws. 

In  certain  caterpillars  the  digestive  power  is  so  great  that 
they  swallow  every  day  three  or  four  times  their  own 
weight  of  food.  If  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros  were  to 
feed  on  this  scale,  and  were  as  numerous  as  the  others, 


112 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


they  would  require  only  a  very  short  time  to  devour  all  the 
vegetation  on  the  globe. 

The  first  period  of  an  insect's  life  is  devoted  to  develop- 
ment, to  nutrition,  and  frequently  it  is  only  during  this 
time  that  it  eats  in  the  gluttonous  manner  we  have  just 


55.  Head  and  Jaws  of  the  Willow-Eating  Caterpillar.     From  Lyonet's  Anatomical  Treatise. 

spoken  of.  When  it  has  reached  its  full  development,  it 
seems  to  have  no  other  object  in  its  existence  than  repro- 
duction ;  sometimes  even  the  alimentary  canal  is  obliterated, 
and  the  animal  takes  no  nourishment.  The  caterpillar, 
with  its  destructive  jaws,  the  ruin  of  our  harvests,  is  trans- 
formed into  a  butterfly,  the  harmless  proboscis  of  which 
only  imbibes  the  nectar  of  flowers.1  In  its  last  stage  the 
Ephemera  lives  on  love  alone  ;  its  digestive  apparatus  has 
quite  disappeared. 

Some  Hemiptera  are,  however,  all  through  life  extremely 

1  See  a  more  special  reference  to  this  form  of  metamorphosis  at  page  134. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  113 

abstinent,  and  only  feed  on  the  juices  of  plants.  They  do 
not  suck  them,  although  generally  said  to  do  so  ;  their 
organization  does  not  allow  of  such  a  thing.  Not  having 
any  apparatus  for  forming  a  vacuum  and  sucking  up  fluids, 
they  draw  them  off  by  means  of  the  mouth,  which  for  this 
purpose  is  transformed  into  the  most  delicate  little  suction 
pump  that  can  be  imagined.  The  lower  lip  represents  a 
tube  terminated  in  a  point,  on  the  upper  part  of  which  ex- 
tends a  groove.  In  this  four  delicate  bristles  move  like  pis- 
tons, and  in  the  course  of  their  action  to  and  fro  attract  the 
liquids  of  plants  and  animals  so  soon  as  ever  the  insect  has 


56.  Common  Ephemera:  Ephemera  communis. 

pierced  the  envelope  with  the  point  of  its  beak.  Thus, 
when  the  bloodthirsty  gnat  settles  on  our  skin  and  gorges 
itself  with  our  blood,  it  does  not  suck  the  fluid ;  it  pumps  it 
up  with  pistons  of  exquisite  delicacy. 

Our  heart,  the  structure  of  which  is  so  much  admired  and 
so  admirable,  is  nevertheless  only  a  very  coarse  forcing- 
pump  compared  with  that  of  an  insect.  All  the  apparatus 
of  the  central  organ  of  circulation  is  limited  to  two  large 
openings,  each  furnished  with  two  valves  or  valvelets,  in- 
tended to  prevent  the  reflux  of  the  blood ;  but  if.  by  the  aid 
of  the  solar  microscope,  the  transparent  body  of  an  Ephem- 
era is  projected  upon  a  huge  screen,  one  is  astonished  at 


114  THE    UNIVERSE. 

the  magnificent  spectacle  offered  by  the  movement  of  the 
blood.  The  heart  is  represented  by  a  long  vessel,  which 
occupies  all  the  back  of  the  animal,  and  into  which  the  cir- 
culating fluid  precipitates  itself  by  eight  or  ten  lateral  open- 
ings, like  small  streams  converging  towards  a  more  impetu- 
ous current.  As  many  valves  rise  and  fall  to  allow  entrance 
to  the  fluid  and  hinder  its  return.  In  the  interior  of  this 
lengthened  heart  larger  valvules,  to  the  number  of  six  or 
eight,  are  folded  back  against  the  wall  to  let  the  blood  pass 
forward,  and  reopen  directly  afterwards,  during  each  con- 
traction, in  order  to  prevent  its  flowing  backwards.  Vessels 
arranged  in  loops  are  distributed  to  all  the  members. 

The  course  of  the  blood  in  the  colossal  insect  seen  upon 
the  screen  resembles  so  many  little  streams  bearing  glob- 
ules more  or  less  crowded  together.  This  is  proved  by  the 
strictest  evidence,  and  yet  who  would  believe  that  Cuvier 
and  his  school  would  never  credit  this  phenomenon  ?  In- 
stead of  looking,  which  was  so  easy,  they  preferred  to  deny 
the  circulation  in  the  insect,  and  to  regard  its  wonderful 
heart  as  a  simple  secreting  vessel  affected  by  contractile 
movements.  It  is  thus  that  physiological  science  advances ; 
a  hundred  battles  are  requisite  to  make  men  admit  the 
most  easily  verified  truth. 

With  us,  as  with  all  the  large  animals,  the  air  rushes  into 
the  respiratory  apparatus,  without  the  least  check,  by  a 
simple  and  very  ample  opening  ;  all  the  impurities  in  the 
air  may  be  swallowed,  to  the  defilement  of  our  lungs. 

Insects,  on  the  contrary,  inspire  the  atmospheric  air 
through  several  orifices,  and  this  is  well  purified  before  it 
is  introduced  into  the  organism.  For  this  purpose  all  their 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  115 

aerial  mouths  are  in  some  closed  with  a  membrane,  which 
is  perforated  like  a  sieve  with  an  immense  number  of  small 
holes,  and  so  is  fitted  to  arrest  the  smallest  particles  floating 
in  the  air,  and  act  like  a  veritable  strainer.  In  others  each 
respiratory  opening  is  obstructed  by  hairs,  which  form  a 
kind  of  net,  intended  for  the  same  purpose.  Without  these 


57.  Aerial  Mouth,  or  Stigma,  of  the  Common  Fly,  seen  with  the  microscope. 

providential  precautions  the  air-tubes  of  these  animals,  often 
as  fine  as  hairs,  would  be  obstructed  every  instant  by  the 
dust  in  the  midst  of  which  they  live. 

In  the  case  of  insects  inhabiting  the  water  other  precau- 
tions, not  less  admirable,  prevent  the  fluid  from  forcing  its 
way  into  the  air-passages.  Sometimes  at  the  entrance  of 
the  respiratory  organ  there  is  a  door,  with  five  or  six  leaves 
of  the  most  ingenious  mechanism,  which  the  animal  opens 
or  shuts  at  will.  It  only  opens  them  when  it  comes  to  the 
surface  of  a  pool  to  breathe ;  when  it  plunges  into  the 
depths  the  leaves  of  this  little  air-door  are  closely  shut,  and 
the  pneumatic  channels  are  effectually  defended  against  the 
invasion  of  the  liquid,  which  would  disturb  the  organization. 
This  is  seen  in  the  larva  of  the  common  gnat?  which  swarms 
in  our  stagnant  waters. 


116  THE    UNIVERSE. 

In  the  larger  animals  the  respiratory  function  is  per- 
formed by  the  aid  of  a  distinct,  restricted  apparatus  con- 
fined to  one  region  of  the  body.  In  the  insects  it  has  a 
much  larger  field  of  action.  The  air  diffuses  itself  every- 
where, and  after  having  bathed  the  internal  organs  by 
means  of  particular  vessels,  the  trachece,  which  are  easily 
distinguished  by  their  pearly  tint,  it  reaches  the  extreme 
terminations  of  the  feet  and  the  antennae.  For  this  purpose 
these  are  provided  with  a  most  remarkable  structure.  They 
are  composed  of  a  fine  cartilaginous  lamina,  rolled  in  like 


58.  Larva  of  the  Common  Gnat,  Culex  pipiens  (Linn.),  seen  with  the  microscope. 

the  metallic  thread  in  an  elastic  brace.  This  arrangement 
serves  to  keep  their  walls  constantly  separated,  and  to  fa- 
cilitate the  free  circulation  of  air  through  their  impercepti- 
ble canals. 

Every  person  has  seen,  and  with  some  disgust  too,  a 
white  larva  with  a  long  tail,  which  lives  in  the  filthy,  stag- 
nant waters  of  our  courts  and  roads,  and  which  is  vulgarly 
called  the  rat-tailed  maggot.  When  I  was  young  this  crea- 
ture inspired  in  me  the  same  repugnance  that  it  does  in 
most  people  ;  but  since  I  have  examined  it  by  the  aid  of  a 
lens,  and  studied  its  habits,  repugnance  has  given  way  to 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  117 

admiration.  The  extraordinary  tail  to  which  the  animal 
owes  its  name  is  an  organ  of  respiration.  It  contains  two 
vessels  which  serve  to  disseminate  the  air  through  all  the 
body  of  this  fly-larva,  for  such  it  is.  These  two  air-chan- 
nels are  enveloped  by  tubes  of  a  different  calibre,  which  fit 
one  into  another  and  move  exactly  like  the  tubes  of  a  tel- 
escope. 

This  worm,  not  having  any  swimming  organ,  possesses  in 
this  ingenious  arrangement  a  means  of  constantly  opening 
the  orifice  of  its  respiratory  apparatus  at  the  surface  of  the 
water,  whatever  may  be  its  level.  If  the  liquid  sink  in  the 
puddle  which  it  inhabits,  all  the  tubes  enter  one  another 
like  those  of  a  telescope,  and  the  aerial  tubes  wind  inside 
them.  If,  on  the  contrary,  a  violent  shower  should  make 
the  water  rise  above  its  bounds,  they  are  all  projected  out- 
wards, being  drawn  out  as  far  as  possible,  so  that  their  ori- 
fices still  reach  the  surface. 

The  final  intention  of  nature  is  so  manifest  in  this  cir- 
cumstance that  if  we,  in  imitation  of  Re'aumur,  plunge  one 
of  these  larvse  into  a  glass  containing  only  a  little  water, 
and  the  quantity  of  this  be  gradually  augmented,  the  in- 
sect's tail  lengthens  in  proportion,  and  indeed  acquires  an 
extraordinary  size,  so  that,  without  quitting  the  spot,  the 
larva  may  carry  on  the  act  of  respiration,  the  aerial  tubes 
opening  out  on  the  surface  of  the  fluid. 

The  ravages  of  insects,  which  sometimes  occasion  such 
serious  panics,  are  explained  by  their  enormous  fecundity. 
This  is  sometimes  so  prodigious  that  some  persons  imagine 
it  results  from  a  sudden  creation  en  masse.  On  this  sub- 
ject Leuwenhoeck  calculated  that  a  single  domestic  fly  can 


118  .  THE   UNIVERSE. 

produce  746,496  young  in  three  months ;  and  Linnaeus, 
basing  his  computations  on  the  voracity  of  the  hungry 
offspring  of  the  fly,  stated  that  three  flies  destroy  the  dead 
body  of  a  horse  as  quickly  as  a  lion. 

The  Termites  display  a  still  more  extraordinary  fecun- 
dity; and,  according  to  Professor  Owen,  a  single  Aphis  in  the 
tenth  generation  has  produced  1,000,000,000,000,000,000 
young. 

The  eggs  of  insects,  of  which  our  eye  only  perceives  the 
general  shape  and  color,  appear  like  so  many  masterpieces 
of  art  when  the  magnifying-glass  reveals  their  delicate  chis- 
ellings  and  mechanism.  They  generally  approach  the  form 
of  a  sphere  or  an  ovoid.  Some  butterflies  lay  cylindrical 
eggs,  and  those  of  the  gnat  look  like  charming  microscop- 
ical amphorae.  There  are  some,  the  extremity  of  which  is 
surmounted  by  a  crown  of  points ;  others  exactly  represent 
a  delicate  miniature  saucepan,  the  young  inhabitant  of 
which,  in  order  to  be  born,  has  only  to  lift  up  the  lid. 

The  egg  of  the  louse,  which  disgusts  us  so  much,  presents 
this  curious  structure,  but,  in  addition,  its  opening  is  embel- 
lished by  a  little  projecting  rim,  and  a  groove  into  which 
the  edge  of  the  cover  enters  in  such  a  manner  as  to  close  it 
hermetically.  A  still  more  ingenious  mechanism  is  seen  in 
some  of  the  wood-bugs.  The  young  insect  does  not  even 
require  to  lift  the  lid  ;  there  is  within  a  spring  on  which 
this  office  devolves  ;  at  the  moment  of  birth  the  occupant 
has  only  to  emerge,  and  one  may  say  with  justice  of  him 
that  he  does  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  be  born. 

The  surface  of  these  eggs  is  often  remarkable  on  account 
of  the  exquisite  fineness  of  the  entwining  ornamentation. 


59.  The  DKONE-FLY,  Erlstalis  tenax,  and  its  Larva  the  rat-tailed  Maggot. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  121 

Some  are  covered  with  large  ribs  which  extend  from  one 
end  to  the  other  ;  others  display  only  fine  lines  artistically 
engraved  ;  others,  again,  have  the  surface  covered  with  a 
net-work  of  lace.  For  them  nature  has  exhausted  the 
riches  of  her  palette  :  they  are  dyed  with  the  softest  or  the 
most  brilliant  tints  of  blue,  green,  and  red  ;  some  absolutely 
resemble  mother-of-pearl,  and  there  are  some  that  one  might 
take  for  so  many  charming  little  iridescent  pearls. 

The  sexuality  itself  of  insects  offers  some  curious  par- 
ticulars. There  are  not  only  males  and  fe- 
males among  them,  but  some  of  their  re- 
publics have,  in  addition,  individuals  ab- 
solutely deprived  of  sex ;  these  are  the 
neuters,  which  alone  work,  and  constitute  60-  Glowworm,  male 

and  female :  Lampyris 

the  element  of  the  prosperity  and  power  of    noctiiuca. 

the  state.     Some  are  true  workmen,  others  valiant  soldiers. 

But  these  individuals,  which  we  recognize  by  their  form  or 
their  particular  weapons,  are  in  truth 
only  aborted  females;  the  bees  them- 
selves know  this  perfectly,  as  we  shall 
see. 

To  all  these  marvels  of  insect  life 
we  must  yet  add  the  inexplicable  phe- 
nomenon of  the  dazzling  light  which 
they  project  into  the  midst  of  the  dark- 
ness, and  which  sometimes  in  their 

61.  Luminous  Beetle  of  the         .  1  . 

Antilles:  E later  no ctiiucus.  flight  furrows  the  air  with  long  streams 
of  fire,  sometimes  peacefully  illuminates  the  foliage  on  which 
they  repose. 

Every  person  knows  the  Lampyris,  or  glowworm,  which 


122  THE   UNIVERSE. 

in  the  autumn  gives  our  green  turf  the  appearance  of  a 
starry  sky.  But  in  tropical  America  there  are  phosphores- 
cent insects  of  far  superior  splendor.  The  great  lantern-fly 
can  supply  the  place  of  a  lamp  with  the  bright  light  with 


)  Hut  lighted  up  with  Luminous  Beetles. 

which  its  monstrous  head  gleams.  Sybille  de  Merian  re- 
lates that  at  Surinam  she  sometimes  read  the  newspapers 
by  the  aid  of  a  single  one  of  these  Hemiptera.1 

1  As  is  the  case  with  so  many  vital  phenomena,  the  phosphorescence  of  insects 
is  still  far  from  being  explained.  Sir  Humphry  Davy  and  Treviranus  attributed 
it  to  a  substance  containing  phosphorus,  which  is  secreted  from  the  fluids  of  the 
animal,  and  beams  like  this  substance  by  means  of  the  oxygen  of  the  air.  This 
would  be  a  true  combustion.  The  presence  of  phosphoric  acid  in  the  atmosphere 
seems  to  give  a  certain  amount  of  authority  to  this  hypothesis.  A  German  anat- 
omist, the  celebrated  Carus,  discovered  that  the  eggs  of  these  animals  are  them- 
selves luminous,  —  a  very  curious  fact,  and  of  a  nature  to  throw  some  light  upon 
the  question. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  123 

In  the  West  India  Islands  the  phosphorescence  of  these 
insects  is  made  daily  use  of ;  they  employ  there  a  luminous 
beetle,  the  corselet  of  which  becomes  dazzling  in  the  gloom. 
In  Cuba  the  women  often  inclose  several  of  these  Coleop- 
tera  in  little  cages  of  glass  or  wood,  which  they  hang  up  in 
their  rooms,  and  this  living  lustre  throws  out  sufficient  light 
to  serve  to  work  by.  Travellers  there  also,  in  a  difficult 
road,  light  their  path  in  the  middle  of  the  night  by  attach- 
ing one  of  these  beetles  to  each  of  their  feet.  The  Creoles 
sometimes  set  them  in  the  curls  of  their  hair,  where,  like 
resplendent  jewels,  they  give  a  most  fairy-like  aspect  to 
their  heads.  The  negresses  at  their  nocturnal  dances  scat- 
ter these  brilliant  insects  over  the  robes  of  lace  which 
nature  provides  for  them,  all  woven  from  the  bark  of  the 
Lagetto.  In  their  rapid  and  lascivious  movements  they 
seem  enveloped  in  a  robe  of  fire.1 

Science  has  not  satisfactorily  explained  the  coloring  and 

1  Though  sometimes  called  the  Great  Lantern  Firefly,  it  is  quite  distinct  from 
the  Firefly  (Elater  noctilucus),  which  belongs  to  the  click-beetles,  and  is  ajso 
said  to  be  used  by  the  Indians  to  work  or  travel  by.  As  recently,  however,  as 
1858  Dr.  J.  A.  Smith  exhibited  a  specimen  of  the  Fulgora  to  the  Royal  Physical 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  and  stated  that  it  was  still  an  undecided  question  among 
naturalists  whether  these  flies  are  really  luminous;  and  in  the  Zoologist  for  1863 
Mr.  R.  Jeffry,  of  New  Grenada,  says  that  it  gives  no  light,  and  that  he  imagines 
the  use  of  the  diaphanous  projection  on  its  head,  from  which  it  takos  its  name,  is 
to  prevent  the  insect  from  knocking  against  hard  substances  in  the  night.  The 
same  discrepancy  of  opinion  has  been  observed  with  respect  to  the  Chinese  can- 
dle-beetle (Hotinus  candelarius),  which  is  said  to  emit  at  intervals  a  brilliant 
greenish  light,  and  even  to  have  been  captured  by  Count  d'Enzenberg  in  this 
state;  whereas  Sir  John  Bowring,  who  made  such  a  splendid  collection  of  beetles 
during  his  many  years'  residence  in  China,  never  saw  any  luminosity  about  it. 
The  reader  will  find  these  beetles  beautifully  represented  in  a  colored  engraving 
in  the  first  volume  of  Nature  and  Art.  — TR. 


124 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


secretions  found  in  certain  insects  ;  and  indeed  it  has  only 
been  moderately  successful  in  the  seeking  in  the  outer 
world  for  all  the  elements  of  the  mysterious  phenomena  of 
organic  life,  which  will  possibly,  for  a  long  time,  conceal 
from  us  the  secrets  of  its  constitution. 

How  does  the  cochineal  insect  find  in  the  green  juices  of 
the  cactus,  which  nourishes  it,  the  magnificent  red  color, 
the  carmine,  which  inflates  its  whole  body  ? 


63.  The  Sweet-Smelling  Staphylinus:  Stapltylinus  ohns. 

The  musk  Cerambyx  exhales  the  most  grateful  odor  of 
roses ;  all  round  about  the  willow  which  it  inhabits  the  air 
is  perfumed  with  the  scent,  and  these  emanations  betray  the 
insect  with  fatal  certainty  to  the  collectors  in  pursuit  of  it. 
But  the  leafage  of  this  tree  nourishes  also  stinking  bugs. 
Can  the  one  draw  from  the  same  aliment  the  most  marvel- 
lous essences,  and  the  other  only  repulsive  and  fetid  fluids  ? 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  125 

The  bee  exudes  the  softening  wax  from  one  region  of  its 
body,  and  burning  poison  from  another;  can  the  nectar  of 
flowers  furnish  the  perfumed  honey  and  the  most  acrid 
venom  ? 

The  Cantharis  and  the  Meloe  transmute  the  harmless 
juices  of  our  ash-trees  and  the  grass  of  our  meadows  into 
dangerous  poisons,  and  how  many  persons  have  fallen  vic- 
tims to  these  poisonous  insects  in  our  country  !  l  Yet  it  is 
the  same  grass  which  loads  with  fat  the  flesh  of  our  cattle. 

And,  lastly,  how  does  the  scented  Staphylinus  extract 
from  the  foul  stuff  on  which  it  feeds  the  grateful  perfume 
which  exhales  from  its  rings,  and  covers  the  fingers  of  those 
who  touch  it  ? 

1  The  Canthartu  officinalis,  so  much  employed  at  present  for  making  blisters,  is 
one  of  the  most  deadly  poisons  in  the  world.  It  produces  death  when  given  in  a 
very  small  dose,  and  even  the  external  use  of  it  is  not  free  from  danger.  The 
works  of  writers  of  every  epoch  contain  lamentable  accounts  of  poisoning  pro- 
duced by  this  formidable  beetle.  Pliny  relates  that  Cossinus,  a  Roman  knight, 
and  a  favorite  of  Nero,  died  after  having  taken  a  drink  prepared  with  Canthar- 
ides  by  one  of  the  Egyptian  physicians,  who  were  at  that  time  very  much  sought 
after  in  Rome.  The  writings  of  Galen  and  Dioscorides  contain  similar  tales. 
Among  mouern  authors,  Orfila  and  H.  Cloquet  also  quote  a  number  of  those  cases 
of  poisoning,  which  are  common  enough. 

Other  Coleoptera  contain  poisons  which  are  no  less  active  than  those  of  the 
blistering  fly,  as,  for  instance,  the  Meloe's,  heavy  insects  of  a  deep  blue  color, 
having  only  rudimentary  elytra,  and  which  are  found  in  the  grass  at  the  spring 
of  the  year.  Latreille  thinks  that  it  was  these  that  the  ancients  called  Bupres- 
tides,  and  accused  of  being  fatal  to  oxen  when  they  swallowed  them  along  with 
the  grass  of  the  meadows.  According  to  the  same  learned  author,  the  criminal 
use  of  these  insects  was  so  common  at  that  time  that  the  legislators  were  obliged 
to  try  and  check  it  by  proclaiming  the  Lex  Cornelia,  which  condemned  to  death 
any  man  who  poisoned  his  fellow-man  with  Meloe's.  —  Latreille,  Cours  d'Ento- 
mologie,  Paris,  1831,  p.  56. 


126  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  II. 

METAMORPHOSES. 

* 

BORN  in  one  shape,  the  insect  dies  in  another,  and  the 
metamorphoses  which  it  undergoes  are  the  most  important 
portion  of  its  life,  and  the  most  extraordinary  phenomenon 
in  physiology.  Organism,  functions,  all  things  change  :  the 
ugly  caterpillar  is  transformed  into  a  butterfly  gleaming 
with  azure  and  gold,  and  if  this  butterfly  were  restricted  to 
the 'fresh  leaves  of  which  it  devoured  such  quantities  in  its 
youth  it  would  die  of  inanition  ;  it  requires  a  more  delicate 
nourishment  now  that  it  has  become  adorned  with  its  brill- 
iant wings,  and  only  lives  on  the  nectar  of  flowers. 

The  Libellula,  or  dragon-fly,  when  it  appears  in  its  last 
dress,  assumes  different  habits.  It  has  passed  all  its  life 
beneath  the  water  in  the  condition  of  an  ignoble  larva, 
soiled  with  mud  and  filth ;  but  now  that  the  time  has  come, 
it  aspires  to  soar  into  the  air.  Having  mounted  on  some 
plant  or  other,  it  attaches  its  aquatic  garment  to  it,  and  un- 
folds the  brilliant  iridescent  wings  of  gauze  which  bear  it 
away.  The  metamorphosis  is  so  radical  and  its  new  wants 
so  imperious  that  if  we  attempt  to  retain  the  insect  a  single 
minute  longer  in  its  ancient  element  it  will  perish  on  the 
spot.  It  has  lived  till  now  in  shade  and  in  stagnant  water ; 
henceforth  it  can  only  breathe  the  pure  air  and  live  in  the 
glowing  light.1 

1  This  insect  is  so  little  like  itself  at  different  stages  that  any  one  who  did  not 
know  its  metamorphoses  would  look  upon  it  as  an  animal  belonging  to  totally  dif- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


127 


The  grown  insect  differs  so  widely  from  the  young  that 
one  cannot  in  the  least  recognize  the  one  in  the  other.  The 
Scarabseus,  or  sacred  beetle,  with  its  emerald  elytra,  which 
was  worshipped  in  ancient  Egypt,  does  not  in  the  least  re- 
semble the  hideous  subterranean  worm  which  produces  it ; 
a  singular  metamorphosis,  in  which,  according  to  M.  Goury, 
the  nations  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  beheld  the  symbol  of 
the  transmigration  of  souls. 


64.  The  Three  States  of  an  Insect,  as  seen  in  the  Great  Capricornis. 
1.  The  Larva  or  Caterpillar.    2.  The  Nymph  or  Chrysalis.     3.  The  Perfect  Insect  or  Imago. 

Aristotle,  whose  genius  has  thrown  such  a  brilliant  light 
upon  the  history  of  animals,  had  only  a  suspicion  of  their 

ferent  genera.  The  nymph  of  the  dragon-fly  has  been  taken  by  Rondelet  for  the 
aquatic  Cygala;  by  Mouffet  for  the  water-flea  or  grasshopper  ;  and  by  Redi  for 
the  aquatic  scorpion.  The  three  different  states  of  certain  Acridia  have  also  been 
described  as  three  different  insects. — Lesser,  Theologie  des  Insectes.  Trad,  de 
Lyonet,  Paris,  1745,  p.  169. 


128  THE   UNIVERSE. 

metamorphoses.  We  must  come  to  the  period  of  the  Re- 
naissance, and  see  Redi  begin  to  trace  their  history  with  a 
steady  hand.  To  the  illustrious  physician  of  Florence  suc- 
ceeded Malpighi,  the  great  anatomist,  and  Goedart,  a  sim- 
ple and  excellent  observer,  who,  in  a  book  as  rare  as  it  is 
curious,  brought  under  notice  each  caterpillar  and  its  but- 
terfly. 

At  birth  the  insect  is  always  wingless.  The  apparatus 
for  flying  is  only  developed  at  the  last  stage  of  its  existence, 

—  that  which  is  consecrated  solely  to  reproduction.     The 
young  creature  generally  presents  itself  under  the  form  of  a 
worm,  to  which  Linnaeus  gave  the  name  of  larva,  or  mask, 

—  an  ingenious  reminder  that  this  worm  is  only  a  kind  of 
preliminary  disguise,  beneath  which  is  hidden  the  brilliant 
livery  of  the  perfect  insect. 

The  first  period  of  life  is  given  up  entirely  to  develop- 
ment ;  the  larva  does  nothing  but  eat  and  grow.  But  at 
a  given  time  its  activity  ceases ;  it  shrivels  up,  casts  off  its 
skin,  takes  on  a  new  form,  and  becomes  motionless.  It  is 
then  that  the  name  of  nymph  is  given  to  it.  This  is  a  mere 
transitory  state,  and  in  this  kind  of  temporary  sepulchre 
the  unfinished  existence  of  the  caterpillar  is  annihilated,  and 
that  of  the  perfect  insect  begins. 

The  transfiguration  is  as  complete  in  the  interior  as  at 
the  surface.  At  a  certain  time  the  whole  organism  seems 
resolved  into  a  homogeneous  paste,  from  which  springs  the 
new  living  being.  Generally  the  nymph  is  only  covered 
with  a  brown  winding-sheet  of  the  most  modest  kind  ;  it 
looks  like  an  immovable  mummy  enveloped  in  bandages, 
but  sometimes,  in  imitation  of  monarchs,  it  carves  out  for 


65.  Life  and  Metamorphoses  of  the  Dragon-Fly:  Libellula  depressa.     A,  The  Perfect  Insect. 
ii,  The  Insect  casting  off  its  worn-out  Nymph's  Skin,    c  t>,  Larvae  and  Nymph. 
9 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM. 


131 


itself  a  sarcophagus  enriched  with  gold,  and  from  this  is 
derived  the  name  of  chrysalis  which  is  given  to  it. 

At  the  decisive  and  final  moment,  the  dawn  of  a  new  life, 
the  mummy?  swathed  like  Diana  of  Ephesus,  awakes  from 
its  torpor,  becomes  full  of  life,  rends  its  lowly  covering,  and 
appears  under  the  form  of  an  insect  all  glittering  with  emer- 
alds and  sapphires.  It  is  in  this  last  epoch  of  organization 
that  it  is  called  the  perfect  insect,  the  imago,  as  Linnaeus 
named  it  in  his  figurative  language. 

The  birth  of  the  young  creature  is  truly  marvellous,  for 
in  spite  of  the  unheard-of  efforts  demanded  by  the  act,  it 


66.  Emperor  Moth. 

issues  from  its  swaddling-clothes  in  a  state  of  inconceivable 
freshness. 

The  slightest  graze  rubs  off  the  scales  of  the  butterfly, 
and  yet  not  one  of  them  is  lost  when  it  escapes  through  the 
narrow  opening  of  its  prison.  The  Emperor  Moth,  with  its 
great  Argus-eyes  upon  its  robes,  emerges  from  its  horny 
sarcophagus  without  catching  a  hair  of  its  velvet  wings 
against  it ! 


132  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Many  insects  do  even  more  to  protect  their  metamorpho- 
sis ;  they  envelop  themselves  in  a  mantle  of  silk,  which  pre- 
serves them  from  the  assaults  of  the  rain  and  cold.  In 
certain  butterflies  it  is  evident  that  this  covering  is  so  ar- 


67.  Larva  and  Nymph  of  the  Panorpis,  much  enlarged,  showing  in  this  Fly  the  passage 
from  one  state  to  another. 

ranged  as  to  fulfil  this  double  task  :  a  dense  external  tegu- 
ment, similar  to  the  straw  thatch  of  our  houses  in  the  coun- 
try, allows  the  storm  to  pass  over  without  penetrating ; 
another,  internal  and  softer,  defies  the  cold  of  winter. 
Buried  at  autumn  tide  in  this  double  shelter,  the  butterfly 
securely  awaits  the  coming  of  spring  to  be  born  again.1 

1  It  is  the  cocoon  or  silken  covering  spun  by  the  bombyx  of  the  mulberry- 
tree  that  furnishes  our  silk,  such  a  well-known  source  of  our  industrial  wealth. 
Boyle,  the  chemist,  relates  that  a  lady,  having  taken  the  trouble  to  unravel  a  co- 
coon of  silk  very  carefully,  and  to  measure  the  thread,  found  that  it  was  more 
than  300  English  leagues  in  length.  —  Boyle,  Subtilty  of  Effluvia.  Lyonet,  with 
much  reason  thinks  there  must  be  some  mistake  here.  He  found  this  thread  to 
be  only  from  700  to  900  feet  long. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


133 


The  magic  of  these  metamorphoses  surpasses  anything 
one  could  imagine ;  they  are  so  many  dramatic  scenes,  in 
the  last  of  which  arises  a  creature  quite  unexpected  in  ap- 
pearance. 

The  butterfly,  which  at  different  stages  of  existence  so 
little  resembles  its  former  self,  seems  to  be  born  and  die 
three  times  ;  but  it  is  only  a  question  of  simple  develop- 
ment, accomplished  in  the  midst  of  an  apparent  torpor,  dur- 
ing which  life  only  preserves  its  hidden  springs.  The 
caterpillar  already  contains  all  the  rudiments  of  the  forms 
which  it  is  to  take  on  in  succession.  The  genius  of  the 


68.  Earwig:  Forjicula  auricularia.     Adult,  Nymph,  and  Larva. 

anatomist  discovers  in  it  three  creatures,  one  encased  within 
the  other,  the  last  of  which,  enveloped  in  a  double  winding- 
sheet,  finally  throws  it  off  to  appear  in  all  its  beauty. 

Some  insects,  however,  show  neither  the  immobility  nor 
the  complete  transformation  we  have  been  speaking  of. 
The  passage  from  one  life  to  another  takes  place  by  means 
of  a  successive  development.  Some  even  maintain  a  con- 
stantly active  existence  in  every  stage.  We  only  recognize 
the  larva  by  the  absence  of  its  wings,  and  the  nymph  by  its 
having  merely  rudimentary  ones  ;  this  is  the  case  with  the 
wood-bugs  and  the  Forficulae,  or  earwigs.  But  generally 


134  THE    UNIVERSE. 

the  perfect  insect  only  reaches  the  term  of  life  after  having 
undergone  a  total  metamorphosis.  Its  last  form  is  only  a 
brilliant  wedding  garment,  and  it  almost  always  expires  as 
soon  as  ever  the  torches  of  Hymen  are  extinguished.  Many 
an  insect,  the  Ephemera  for  example,  passes  several  years  in 
its  development  beneath  the  mud  and  water,  an  unknown 
and  imperfect  larva ;  then  it  acquires  wings,  and  only  exists 
an  hour  with  all  the  prerogatives  of  life  ! 

In  species  which  display  radical  metamorphoses,  the  two 


.  Head  and  Proboscis  of  different  Butterflies. 


modes  of  existence  having  no  relation,  the  organism  natu- 
rally undergoes  an  absolute  transformation. 

The  butterfly,  which  is  henceforth  to  nourish  itself  with 
nectar,  throws  off  its  voracious  caterpillar's  head  and  power- 
ful mandibles,  now  become  useless ;  an  extended  proboscis 
to  suck  the  juice  of  flowers  replaces  them.  The  vigorous 
feet  of  the  larva  —  the  hooks  of  which  cling  so  strongly  to 
the  leaves — would  injure  the  flowers  which  the  butterfly  is 
henceforth  to  haunt ;  he  releases  himself  from  them,  and  ex- 
changes them  for  long  and  delicate  members,  which  scarcely 
rest  upon  the  velvet  of  the  petals. 

Up  to  a  certain  point  the  genius  of  the  anatomist  pene- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  135 

trates  the  intentions  of  nature  ;  guided  by  analogy  he  sees 
in  the  unformed  caterpillar  the  lineaments  of  the  butterfly. 
Malpighi,  who  has  left  us  such  noble  works  on  the  silk- 
worm, with  his  lynx-eye  saw  in  the  nymph  the  organs  of 
maternity.  Eamdohr  and  Carus  penetrated  still  further, 
and  succeeded  in  discovering  in  the  caterpillar  the  first 
rudiments  of  the  ovary,  in  which  the  eggs  are  produced. 
But  what  unperceived,  unexplained  marvels  still  remain  ! 
The  imago  is  carefully  protected  by  a  series  of  coverings, 
of  which  it  successively  denudes  itself.  Then,  as  befits  the 


70.  Hooked  Feet  and  Nail  of  the  Willow-Caterpillar.    From  Lyonet. 

last  scene  of  life  save  one,  that  which  the  chrysalis  now 
takes  on  is  thicker,  stronger,  darker,  and  less  ornamented 
than  all  the  others,  and  nevertheless  it  is  beneath  this  that 
a  divine  alchemy  scatters  its  dust  of  gold  and  silver  upon 
the  elytra  of  the  insect,  or  enamels  them  with  sapphire  and 
ruby. 

When  the  new  creature,  bursting  the  envelope  in  which 
it  was  developed,  expands  itself  in  the  light,  its  dazzling 
robe  reflects  the  brightest  sheen  of  metal  or  the  sparkle  of 
precious  stones.  No  animal,  no  plant,  displays  such  riches ; 
our  most  beautiful  ornaments  cannot  compete  with  them. 
Hence  Lesser  was  so  overcome  by  admiration  as  to  exclaim 
in  his  "  Theology  of  Insects,"  "  Never  was  Solomon  on  his 


136  THE   UNIVERSE. 

shining  throne  so  magnificently  apparelled  as  one  of  these 
fragile  creatures !  " 

In  the  old  chronicles  we  often  read  of  drops  of  blood 
scattered  here  and  there  being  regarded  as  a  sinister  omen, 
or  even  of  regular  showers  of  blood  which  carried  terror 
into  the  minds  of  our  superstitious  ancestors.  Nowadays 
philosophers  can  clearly  explain  this  phenomenon,  which  is 
connected  with  the  metamorphosis  of  insects. 

Gregory  of  Tours  speaks  of  a  shower  of  blood  which  fell 
in  the  reign  of  Childebert,  and  spread  alarm  among  the 
Franks.  But  the  most  celebrated  is  that  which  took  place 


71.  Great  Tortoise-Shell  Butterfly :   Vanessa  polychloros. 

at  Aix  during  the  summer  of  1608.  Tt  struck  the  inhab- 
itants of  all  the  country  with  terror.  The  walls  of  the 
churchyard,  and  those  of  the  houses  of  the  citizens  and 
peasants  for  half  a  league  round,  were  all  spotted  with 
great  drops  of  blood. 

An  attentive  examination  of  them  convinced  a  savant  of 
that  day,  M.  de  Peirese,  that  all  that  was  told  about  the 
subject  was  pure  fable.  He  could  not  at  first  explain  this 
extraordinary  phenomenon,  but  chance  revealed  the  cause 
clearly.  Having  inclosed  in  a  box  the  chrysalis  of  one  of 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  137 

the  butterflies  which  were  then  showing  themselves  in 
great  numbers,  he  was  perfectly  astonished  to  see  a  stain 
of  scarlet-red  at  the  spot  where  the  metamorphosis  had 
taken  place ! 

The  philosopher  had  discovered  the  cause  of  the  won- 
drous rains  which  had  struck  so  many  people  with  stupor. 
Many  butterflies,  indeed,  a  few  moments  after  they  issue 
from  their  chrysalis  swathing-clothes,  expel  a  thick  colored 
fluid  which  has  accumulated  in  the  intestine  during  their 
seclusion.  It  is  of  a  bright  red  in  certain  diurnal  Lepi- 
doptera,  in  particular  the  Yanessae,  and  especially  among 
them  the  great  tortoise-shell,  to  which  Reaumur  principally 
ascribes  the  occurrence. 

M.  de  Peirese  farther  made  out  that  the  shower  of  blood 
at  Aix  had  been  accompanied  by  a  prodigious  swarm  of 
butterflies,  of  the  same  species  as  the  one  that  he  had  shut 
up  in  the  box;  and  in  the  "  Encyclopedic "  it  is  said  that 
his  conjectures  were  confirmed  by  their  not  finding  any 
spots  on  the  roofs,  but  only  on  the  lower  stories  of  the 
houses,  the  places  which  the  butterflies  choose  for  their 
metamorphoses.1 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  INTELLIGENCE  OF  INSECTS. 

DESCARTES,  who  paid  little  attention  to  insects,  only  saw 
in  them  ingenious  machines,  living  automatons,  wound  up 

1  The  Encyclopedic  of  Diderot  contains  a  very  good  article  on  these  showers 
of  blood. 


138  THE    UNIVERSE. 

once  only  to  put  their  wheels  and  springs  in  movement ; 
all  that  is  so  marvellous  in  their  existence  escaped  this 
brilliant  genius.  But  when  Cartesianism  had  had  its  day, 
a  few  timid  philosophers  consented  to  recognize  some  ob- 
scure traces  of  instinct  in  these  animals. 

In  proportion,  however,  as  they  studied  these  miniature 
specimens  of  creation,  men  discovered  certain  elevated 
faculties  and  perfect  senses,  to  which  succeed  comparison 
and  judgment.  We  even  see  them  accomplish  acts,  the 
aim  of  which  puzzles  us.  They  act  foreseeing  a  future,  the 
existence  of  which  no  really  existing  picture  could  have 
revealed  to  them. 

Everything  in  the  life  of  the  insect  astonishes  us,  not 
only  the  prodigious  extent  and  finish  of  its  work,  but  also 
the  fact  of  its  being  impelled  to  a  task,  the  necessity  for 
which  cannot  have  been  taught  it  by  tradition. 

This  butterfly  which  escapes  in  spring  from  its  mummy 
coffin  never  yet  held  intercourse  with  its  kin  ;  how  can  it 
in  autumn  display  so  much  provident  care  for  an  offspring 
which  it  will  never  see  !  This  delicate  care,  this  deep  fore- 
sight, cannot  even  be  a  reflection  of  its  first  impressions  ! 
The  traces  of  them  must  have  been  effaced  during  the 
metamorphoses  which  so  completely  transformed  it. 

Who  revealed  to  this  dragon-fly  (Libellula),  born  beneath 
the  water,  living  in  gloom  and  sunk  in  the  mud,  that  its 
last  country  is  the  brilliant  sky  ?  And  when,  hurried  away 
by  a  supreme  instinct,  it  prepares  to  throw  off  the  ignoble 
garment  of  the  larva,  to  drink  in  the  air  and  light,  who 
points  out  to  it  the  precise  moment  at  which  it  ought  to 
tear  itself  away  from  the  depths  of  the  marsh,  adorn  itself 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM. 


139 


with  its  brilliant  holiday  robe,  and  launch  itself,  like  a  bird, 
into  the  atmosphere  ? 

Gall  and  Camper,  who  computed  the  intelligence  of  mam- 
mals according  to  the  proportion  of  the  brain  or  the  facial 
angle,  would  have  found  something  also  to  observe  in  in- 
sects. It  has  been  remarked,  indeed,  that  the  most  intelli- 
gent among  them  possess  a  more  centralized  nervous  system 
than  the  others,  and  a  proportionally  larger  head. 


72.  Coleoptera  of  the  family  of  Carabidae. 

This  observation  has  been  made  by  celebrated  physiolo- 
gists in  respect  to  bees  and  spiders,  which  assuredly  possess 
more  elevated  faculties  than  any  other  animals  of  their 
tribe.  Ratzeburg,  indeed,  in  the  magnificent  plates  of  his 
work,  represents  the  brain  of  the  bee  in  order  to  give  an 
idea  of  its  bulk. 

It  is  well  known  that  Camper  considered  that  the  more 
acute  the  facial  angle  in  animals  the  lower  their  intelli- 


140  THE    UNIVERSE. 

gence.  Mr.  White,  an  English  naturalist,  has  made  this 
clearly  perceptible  by  representing  the  heads  of  a  large 
series  of  Vertebrata  from  man  to  the  crane,  the  extreme 
lengthening  of  the  face  of  which  corresponds  to  its  intel- 
lectual inferiority.  An  analogous  work  might  perhaps  be 
executed  in  respect  to  insects.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
picture  would  be  found  the  tiger-beetle  and  the  Carabidse, 
daring  flesh-eating  insects  of  ferocious  habits,  and  with 
strongly  marked  heads ;  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale  we 


73.  The  Pi»e  Cureulio,  enlarged. 

should  find  the  long-beaked  Cureulio,  which,  from  the  ex- 
treme prolongation  of  its  facial  angle  and  its  limited  capac- 
ity, would  correspond  perfectly  with  the  crane. 

The  intelligence  of  insects  rises  under  certain  circum- 
stances to  the  most  finished  subtlety ;  we  are  surprised  to 
find  so  much  cunning  and  resource  among  them.  Of  this 
there  are  abundant  instances.  A  carnivorous  animal,  hun- 
gering after  living  prey,  but  having  a  disgust  for  dead 
bodies,  is  on  the  point  of  seizing  in  the  water  the  large 
shelly  larva  of  a  Dytiscus.  All  at  once  the  latter  perceives 
his  enemy,  and  when  touched  by  him,  from  being  full- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  141 

bodied  and  vigorous,  immediately  becomes  soft  and  repul- 
sively flaccid.  The  aggressor,  thinking  he  has  only  a  dead 
animal  in  his  mouth,  drops  his  prey  in  disgust. 

This  beetle,  having  reached  its  final  stage  and  acquired 
its  horny  wing-covers,  cannot  collapse,  and  it  therefore  em- 
ploys another  stratagem.  When  we  take  a  Dytiscus  from 
one  of  our  marshes,  it  is  scarcely  laid  hold  of  before  we  see 
a  white,  milky,  repulsively  stinking  fluid  issue  from  all  the 
pores  of  its  skin,  which  the  most  hungry  animal  could  not 
endure. 

As  children,  we  have  all  been  struck  with  the  sight  of 
beetles,  which,  so  soon  as  we  touch  them  with  our  fingers, 
feign  death  by  becoming  perfectly  motionless,  and  which, 
when  they  are  left  to  themselves,  gather  their  legs  to- 
gether, and  very  soon  scamper  off  at  full  speed.  Some  of 
them  remain  so  absolutely  motionless  that  nothing  can 
withdraw  them  from  their  determined  dissimulation.  The 
borer  or  death-watch  (Anobium]  will  allow  itself  to  be 
singed  or  drowned  rather  than  fly,  when  once  fear  has  made 
it  shrink.  What  I  state  has  been  confirmed  by  experiment. 
De  Geer  and  Dumeril  relate  that,  having  thoroughly  fright- 
ened several  Coleoptera  of  this  species,  they  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  burned  without  attempting  to  escape. 

Others,  in  order  to  evade  their  enemies,  carry  deception 
still  further.  When  young  and  feeble,  they  assume  for  the 
purpose  of  deception  a  repulsive  and  ragged  or  foul-smell- 
ing covering  of  spider  threads  or  excrement,  though  at  a 
later  period  they  die  clad  in  a  mantle  of  purple  and  gold. 

Such  is  the  Lily  Crioceris.  Its  humble  larva,  soft  and 
timorous,  covers  its  back  with  its  own  fetid  dejections,  in 


142  THE   UNIVERSE. 

order  to  disgust  the  insectivorous  birds.  Subsequently  freed 
from  this  filthy  garment,  it  promenades  upon  the  royal 
plant  in  a  magnificent  carapace  of  vermilion.1 

The  bombardier  beetles  are  even  more  ingenious ;  they 
alarm  their  enemies  by  means  of  real  artillery.  These  Co- 
leoptera,  when  threatened,  suddenly  expel  from  their  intes- 
tines a  whitish  acid  vapor,  the  explosion  of  which,  as  it 
issues,  produces  a  slight  detonation,  which  carries  disorder 
among  the  aggressors.  This  explosion  may  even  be  re- 
peated a  certain  number  of  times.  Hence,  when  one  of 
these  insects  is  pursued  by  an  enemy,  it  fires  off  its  artillery 
anew.  The  instinct  of  defence  is  so  inherent  in  the  tribe 


74.  Lily  Crioceris  and  its  Larva:  Crioceris  merdigera  (Leach). 

of  bombardiers  that  at  the  sound  of  a  cannon  shot  from 
one  of  them  all  the  others  fire  at  the  same  time,  —  there 
is  a  running  fire  along  the  whole  line.2  The  sound  pro- 

1  The  excrement  piled  upon  the  back  of  the  Lily  Crioceris  forms  an  enormous 
and  heavy  mass  compared  with  the  volume  of  the  larva,  which  it  entirely  con- 
ceals from  view.     We  only  see  what  appear  to  be  little  packages  of  moist  defeca- 
tions, walking  upon  the  leaves  of  the  plant.     The  worm  deposits  them  on  its 
back  as  fast  as  they  are  produced,  and  that  is  done  by  means  of  a  special  or- 
gan.    The  anal  orifice,  instead  of  being  quite  at  the  end  of  the  body,  is  placed 
above  in  such  a  manner  that  each  globule  of  excrement  is  disposed  in  its  proper 
place,  thus  contributing  to  the  increase  of  the  mass  in  proportion  as  the  animal 
grows  older. 

2  It  is,  according  to  Rolander,  furnished  with  an  apparatus  which  enables  it  to 
discharge  twenty  shots  in  succession.     Another  less  known    species,  the  small 
green  beetle,  Anchomenus  prasinus,  also  fires  off  repeated  discharges.     It  is  found 
near  London.  —  TR. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


143 


duced  by  these  Coleoptera  is  intense  enough  to  startle  those 
who  do  not  know  the  ruse.  We  often  see  young  people 
who  have  seized  one  let  it  escape  suddenly  from  their  fin- 
gers, astonished  by  this  singular  attack.1 

The  automatic  nature  of  insects  has  only  been  main- 
tained by  those  who  have  never  observed  them  ;  on  the 
contrary,  those  naturalists  who  are  acquainted  with  them 
assign  to  them  decidedly  high  faculties. 


75.  Calosoma  (Calosoma  inquisitor)  pursuing  a  Bombardier  (Brachinus  crepitans),  who  is 

fighting  in  retreat. 

A  hemipterous  insect,  the  tricks  of  which  have  rendered 
it  celebrated  enough,  the  Reduvius  personatus,  conceals  it- 
self under  a  disguise  quite  as  deceptive  as  that  of  the  Cri- 
oceris,  but  which  has  the  advantage  of  being  infinitely  less 

1  The  bombardier,  called  also  the  Gunner  Scarabseus  (Brachinus  crepitans),  be- 
longs to  the  genus  Brachinus.  It  is  a  little  beetle  which  lives  beneath  stones. 
The  gaseous  fluid  which  produces  the  detonation  has  a  pungent  odor,  is  acid,  and 
reddens  tincture  of  litmus.  Some  entomologists  have  considered  it  as  analogous 
to  nitric  acid,  and  add  that  when  brought  into  contact  with  the  skin  it  produces  a 
yellow  stain. 


144  THE    UNIVERSE. 

disgusting.  It  covers  itself  with  a  ragged  coat  of  spider- 
threads  and  dust,  in  order  to  be  less  distinguishable  from 
the  latter,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  hides  itself  to  watch  for 
the  passing  prey. 

Baron  Geer,  the  Reaumur  of  Sweden,  has  described  the 
wiles  of  this  insect  in  a  very  picturesque  manner.  "  This 
bug,"  he  says,  "  in  the  state  of  a  nymph,  or  before  its  wings 
are  developed,  possesses  a  hideous  and  revolting  exterior. 
At  the  first  look  one  might  take  it  for  one  of  the  ugliest  of 
spiders.  What  makes  it  so  disagreeable  to  the  sight  is  its 
being  entirely  covered  with  and  enveloped  in  a  grayish  mat- 
ter, which  is  nothing  but  the  dust  one  sees  in  the  nooks  of 
an  ill-swept  room,  and  which  is  generally  mixed  with  sand 
and  portions  of  wool  or  silk,  making  the  feet  of  the  insect 
clumsy  and  misshapen,  and  giving  the  whole  body  a  very 
singular  look." 

The  Reduvius,  nevertheless,  is  of  a  very  slender  form ; 
but  to  appreciate  this  one  must  give  it  a  brush.  In  its  dis- 
guise it  moves  very  slowly,  as  if  overloaded  by  the  weight 
of  its  accoutrements,  in  order  to  take  its  prey  by  surprise. 
But  when  it  has  thrown  off  its  garment  and  acquired  its 
wings,  it  becomes  active,  and  we  then  see  it  gaining  its 
livelihood  in  open  view. 

When  an  enemy  little  to  be  dreaded  sneaks  into  a  hive 
of  bees,  the  first  sentinels  that  see  it  pierce  it  with  their 
stings,  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  eject  the  corpse  from 
the  common  dwelling.  The  work  is  not  interrupted  by 
such  an  event.  But  if  the  aggressor  be  a  strong  and  heavy 
slug,  matters  go  differently.  A  general  agitation  seizes  the 
workers ;  each  one  gets  ready  his  weapon,  whirls  round  the 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  145 

invader,  and  pierces  it  with  his  dart.  Assailed  with  fury, 
wounded  on  all  sides,  and  poisoned  by  the  venom,  the 
creeping  animal  dies  in  violent  contortions.  But  what  is  to 
be  done  with  such  a  weighty  foe  ?  The  little  feet  of  all  the 
tribe  would  not  suffice  to  stir  the  corpse,  and  the  narrow 
door  of  the  hive  would  not  allow  it  to  pass.  Its  putrid  ex- 
halations would,  however,  soon  infect  the  colony,  and  de- 
velop the  germ  of  some  malady.  How  are  they  to  escape 
from  this  dilemma  ? 

The  republic  take  counsel,  and   come  suddenly  to  just 


76.  Young  of  the  Reduvius personatus;  the  one  covered  with  its  tatters  of  dust  and 
spider-threads,  the  other  freed  from  these  by  brushing. 

such  a  resolution  as  they  would  have  done  if  they  had 
thoroughly  known  one  of  the  arts  of  ancient  Egypt.  As 
under  the  Pharaohs  men  embalmed  the  corpses  of  animals, 
either  with  a  religious  view  or  to  preserve  themselves  from 
their  pestilential  emanations,  so  all  the  bees  now  set  to 
work  to  embalm  the  dead  animal,  the  presence  of  which  is 
a  menace  to  them.  For  this  purpose  the  workers  scatter 
themselves  over  the  country  in  order  to  gather  the  resinous 
matter  (propolis)  which  clings  to  the  buds;  for  this  is  what 
replaces  the  essences  and  aloes  used  by  the  undertakers  of 

the  Theba'id.     The  bees  closely  envelop  the  dead  body  with 
10 


146  THE   UNIVERSE. 

this  in  the  form  of  little  fillets,  and  deposit  all  round  it  a 
thick  solid  layer,  which  preserves  it  from  putrefaction. 

After  seeing  so  many  ingenious  combinations,  who  would 
be  tempted,  with  Malebrariche  and  the  upholders  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  to  look  upon  the  insect  as  an  automa- 
ton, necessarily  destined  to  accomplish  only  a  series  of  acts 
adapted  to  its  mechanism  ?  We  are  here  far  beyond  the 
flute-player  of  Vaucanson  and  his  famous  mechanical  duck, 
which  ate  and  digested  its  food  in  presence  of  the  spec- 
tators. 

But  the  same  bees  display  under  different  circumstances, 
if  not  as  much  art,  at  least  as  much  finesse  If,  instead  of 
a  soft  slug,  vulnerable  on  all  sides,  a  cuirassed  shell-snail 
violate  the  asylum  of  the  republic,  a  totally  different  result 
ensues.  As  soon  as  the  swarm  begins  to  attack  it,  the  mol- 
lusc entrenches  itself  within  its  shell,  fixes  it  to  the  ground, 
and  is  then  proof  against  all  aggression.  Nevertheless,  as 
the  presence  of  an  enemy  so  well  fenced  in  gives  them  some 
uneasiness,  and  as  they  cannot  slay  it,  they  fasten  it  to  the 
spot.  The  workers  deposit  all  round  its  shell  a  solid  frame 
of  resinous  matter  (propolis),  which  glues  it  firmly  to  the 
hive.  The  enemy  must  then  necessarily  die  in  his  lair,  for 
all  movement,  all  escape,  is  henceforth  impossible. 

Reaumur  discovered  a  snail  cemented  in  this  way  to  the 
glass  of  one  of  his  experimental  hives,  into  which  it  had 
imprudently  penetrated ;  and  I  myself  have  seen  another 
such  prisoner  in  the  same  condition. 

Do  not  such  facts  prove  a  certain  foresight?  Could  blind 
instinct  bring  them  about,  and  who  could  venture  to  refer 
them  to  mere  mechanical  action  ? 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  147 

Some  insects  have  an  idea  of  order  and  strategy.  When 
they  go  to  the  chase  or  to  battle,  as  we  shall  see  in  another 
chapter,  their  army  advances  with  a  care  and  prudence  we 
should  be  far  from  expecting  in  such  puny  creatures ;  there 
are  leaders,  videttes,  and  reconnoitrers. 

But  no  act  of  intelligence  in  insects  is  equal  to  that  by 
which  the  bees  create  themselves  a  queen  when  their  own 
is  lost  to  them.  By  a  singular  anomaly  in  insects  it  is  the 
females  which,  though  more  delicate,  take  charge  of  the 
work  ;  the  males  do  absolutely  nothing.  But  these  females 
have  none  of  the  attributes  of  their  sex ;  they  are  genuine 
neuters,  in  which  the  nurses  have  contrived  scientifically 
to  make  every  principle  of  fecundity  abort.  These  work- 
women, when  in  the  larval  state,  have  their  bee-bread  doled 
out  to  them  with  a  very  sparing  hand ;  in  vain  do  they  cry 
and  struggle  at  the  bottom  of  their  cells  ;  the  step-mother 
remains  inflexible,  and  when  the  nurse  thinks  the  proper 
moment  has  arrived  she  inexorably  incloses  the  larva,  say- 
ing, "  Thou  shalt  go  no  further."  And  thus  the  organic 
development  is  paralyzed. 

But  if  any  accident  carry  off  the  queen  from  a  republic 
of  bees,  they  miraculously  know  enough  of  the  springs  of 
life  to  create  themselves  another.  The  nurses  are  aware 
that  the  abortion  of  their  fellow-beings  is  due  to  their  own 
selfishness,  and  they  now  make  prodigious  efforts  to  pro- 
cure themselves  a  new  sovereign.  At  the  edge  of  one  of 
the  combs  we  see  them  accumulate  ample  materials,  and 
construct  a  vast  royal  cell,  forty  or  fifty  times  as  large  and 
weighty  as  the  others.  After  that  they  bear  away  a  simple 
work- woman  from  her  narrow  cell,  and  place  her  in  this 


148  THE   UNIVERSE. 

palace.  So  soon  as  ever  she  is  installed  in  her  sumptuous 
abode,  the  nurses,  now  full  of  tenderness,  load  her  with 
more  agreeable  and  sweeter-scented  bee-bread,  and  under 
the  influence  of  this  ambrosia  the  organs  of  fecundation  ap- 
pear in  the  larva,  which  was  only  called  to  the  most  hum- 
ble condition  ;  henceforth  she  is  a  queen  ! 

Is  it  possible  to  carry  further  the  intimate  knowledge  of 
one's  being  and  the  divine  art  of  modifying  its  nature  ? 

Maternal  instinct  also  enables  the  insect  to  accomplish 
works  which  I  was  about  to  call  herculean ;  but  I  must  go 
further,  and  call  them  more  than  herculean.  This  instinct 
develops  a  prodigious  perseverance  and  an  incomprehensi- 
ble power. 

Linnaeus  saw  one  of  the  flies  which  attack  large  cattle 
(an  (Estrus)  follow  a  reindeer  a  whole  day,  though  drag- 
ging its  sledge  at  a  gallop  over  the  snow.  The  ominous 
fly  flew  almost  continually  by  its  side,  watching  for  the 
moment  when  it  might  introduce  one  of  its  eggs  beneath 
the  skin ! 

These  creatures,  so  contemptible  as  to  their  size,  astonish 
us  by  their  ingenious  tenderness  :  their  maternal  foresight 
is  unbounded.  Some  of  them  imitate  the  rabbit,  which  de- 
nudes all  its  belly  to  form  a  soft  pillow  for  its  nest  of  young. 
They  go  even  further  than  the  mammal :  it  only  deprives 
itself  of  a  part  of  its  wool,  whilst  some  butterflies,  to  pro- 
tect their  offspring,  tear  all  the  hair  off  their  bodies,  and 
expire  so  soon  as  this  act  of  devotion  is  accomplished.  One 
of  the  pests  of  our  fir  forests,  the  Bombyx  dispar,  acts  in 
this  way.  Its  nest  is  composed  of  a  double  shelter,  —  a  fine 
down  on  which  the  eggs  lie,  and  which  covers  them  closely, 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


149 


and  of  an  external  layer,  formed  of  dense  hairs  laid  on  like 
the  slates  of  a  roof,  and  forming  an  impermeable  cloth. 
Thus  the  young  brood  are  doubly  protected  :  against  the 
severity  of  winter's  cold,  and  against  its  destructive  rains. 

Some  kinds  of  gall-insects,  still  more  devoted  to  their  off- 
spring, immolate  themselves  in  order  to  protect  them.  As 
the  enormously  distended  insect  gradually  expels  its  eggs, 


77.  Pine  Silk- Worm  Moth  (Bombyx  dispar):  Caterpillar,  Chrysalis,  and  Butterfly,  male  and 

female. 

it  heaps  them  up  in  a  little  pile,  and  when  its  body  is  quite 
cleared  out,  so  that  it  resembles  a  hollow  bladder,  the  fe- 
male straightway  covers  her  progeny  with  it,  attaches  the 
edges  round  them,  and  dies  directly  after ;  thus  forming  for 
them  a  convex,  solid  roof,  the  impermeability  of  which  pro- 
tects the  eggs  against  the  injurious  agency  of  the  air  and 


150  THE    UNIVERSE. 

storms.  The  mother  has  paid  for  her  child-birth  with  her 
life,  and  her  young  are  born  under  the  shelter  of  her 
mummified  corpse. 

Some  insects  are  guided  in  another  'way  by  maternal 
instinct.  Instead  of  sacrificing  themselves,  they  kill  other 
animals  in  order  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  their  hungry 
offspring.  As  each  species  requires  a  peculiar  food,  it  is 
only  by  the  aid  of  various  processes  that  the  parents  suc- 
ceed in  procuring  it  for  them. 

Live  prey  is  imperatively  necessary  for  some  larvae ;  they 
require  it  so  soon  as  they  are  born,  and  as  the  mother  can- 
not fetter  it  to  their  cradle,  she  poisons  it.  But  more  in- 
genious than  Locusta,  she  only  administers  as  much  poison 
as  is  necessary  to  stupefy  or  paralyze  it,  so  that  the  young 
insect,  when  it  issues  from  the  egg,  finds  near  it  the  dying 
insect,  which  it  ends  by  devouring.  This  is  the  case  with 
many  of  the  Sphex  species.  The  fly  places  one  of  its  eggs 
at  the  bottom  of  a  little  hole  which  it  makes  in  the  ground ; 
it  then  goes  out  to  hunt  till  it  discovers  a  spider  or  a  cater- 
pillar ;  and  so  soon  as  it  finds  one,  it  stings  it  scientifically, 
and  bears  it  quite  paralyzed  to  its  nest. 

Finally,  having  placed  its  victim  close  to  its  egg,  the 
Sphex  closes  the  opening  of  the  subterranean  hollow  with 
a  little  stone,  and  takes  wing,  giving  it  no  further  heed. 
Nothing  more  remains  for  maternal  tenderness  to  do. 

Some  ichneumons,  or  vibrating  flies,  are  much  more  rapa- 
cious and  bold.  The  larvae  of  some  of  these,  though  ex- 
tremely small,  nevertheless  attack  large  caterpillars,  fix 
upon  their  bodies,  and  gnaw  away  till  death  ensues.  The 
mother,  by  the  aid  of  her  boring  instrument,  pierces  the 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  151 

other's  skin,  in  order  to  insert  her  eggs  beneath  it.  She 
lays  a  pretty  large  number  there,  and  when  the  young  are 
hatched,  protected  by  the  skin,  they  begin  to  eat  the  fat; 
it  is  only  towards  the  close  of  their  existence  that  they 
assail  the  vital  organs,  for,  in  order  to  have  always  plenty 
of  live  flesh  to  devour,  these  hungry  anatomists  take  good 
care  not  to  eat  into  them  at  first.  Then  the  caterpillar 


78.  Caterpillar  devoured  by  the  Larvae  of  Ichneumons,  and  Caterpillar  covered 
with  their  Cocoons. 

dies,  and  the  larvae  of  the  ichneumon  issue  by  numerous 
openings,  and  spin  silky  cocoons  on  the  surface  of  the 
corpse.  These  nymphs,  swathed  in  their  white  winding- 
sheets  of  silk,  are  sometimes  so  numerous  and  close  to- 
gether that  they  entirely  conceal  their  victim. 

This  extraordinary  peculiarity  remained  for  a  long  time 
unknown,  even  to  the  most  celebrated  entomologists  ;  they 


152 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


thought  at  first  that  these  little  cocoons  which  envelop  the 
caterpillar  were  only  the  offspring  carefully  preserved  from 
cold  by  maternal  foresight.  It  was  reserved  for  the  father 
of  microscopy  and  for  one  of  the  most  celebrated  observers 
of  Italy,  Leuwenhoeck  and  Vallisneri,  to  shed  a  flood  of 
light  upon  this  curious  fact  and  establish  the  truth. 


79.  Dung-Beetles,  or  Sacred  Scarabaei  (Ateuchus  sacer),  making  their  Balls. 

The  sacred  dung-beetle,  which  played  so  important  a  part 
in  the  theogony  of  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  also  executes 
most  arduous  tasks  in  order  to  protect  its  offspring.  This 
beetle  only  bestows  its  care  upon  one  egg  at  a  time,  but 
this  care  is  incessant.  So  soon  as  it  has  laid  it,  the  Scara- 
bseus  makes  its  way  to  tl|e  dung  of  some  herbivorous  mam- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


153 


mal  and  bears  off  a  small  mass,  in  the  centre  of  which  this 
egg  is  carefully  placed.  Afterwards  it  forms  a  regular 
spherical  ball  with  it,  the  bulk  of  which  exceeds  that  of  its 
own  body.  When  it  is  finished  the  insect  takes  it  with  its 
two  hind  feet,  which  are  long,  crooked,  and  suited  to  this 
work,  and  rolls  it  about  in  every  direction,  pushing  it  back- 
wards. By  dint  of  being  worked  along  the  sand  and  fine 


V\£ 

0    I    I 


80.  Cartouches  from  the  Temples  of  Philae,  representing  Sacred  Scarabseus,  Sacred  Ibis,  etc. 

earth,  this  ball  of  excrement,  soft  enough  at  first,  becomes 
more  and  more  hard  and  smooth  on  the  surface.  The  dung- 
beetle  pursues  its  work  with  an  unheard-of  perseverance  ; 
nothing  stops  it,  nothing  turns  it  back ;  it  is  a  blind  instinct 
that  guides  it.  If  the  place  it  is  traversing  be  a  hillock  or 
a  sloping  ascent,  it  pushes  its  ball  with  all  its  strength.  But 
very  often  it  tumbles,  when  the  ball  escapes  from  its  legs 
and  rolls  away.  The  insect  then  seeks  it  anxiously,  and  if 
some  neighbor,  without  anything  to  do,  has  taken  posses- 
sion of  it,  or  if  it  be  lost  in  the  high  grass  so  that  it  cannot 
be  found  again,  the  beetle  forms  a  new  one,  and  lays  an- 
other egg. 

When  the  ball  is  quite  finished,  well  rounded,  large,  and 
hardened,  the  beetle,  which  has  dug  a  hole  for  this  purpose, 


154  THE    UNIVERSE. 

pushes  the  ball  into  it,  and  leaves  it  to  its  fate.  And  thus 
the  arduous  work  is  finished. 

It  was  these  remarkable  labors  which  drew  the  attention 
of  the  ancients  to  the  insect.  In  ancient  Egypt,  where  men 
marvelled  at  this  prodigious  care,  the  sacred  Scarabseus  be- 
came the  symbol  of  fecundity,  and  sculpture  multiplied  to 
infinity  its  image  on  all  the  monuments  of  the  Pharaohs, 

the  king  of  rivers  to  the  heart  of 
er  hand,  the  perseverance  with  which 
up  its  ball  again,  like  Sisyphus  in  the 
e  to  offer  a  reminiscence  of  the  labors 
lence  we  see  it  represented  everywhere 
f  their  temples,  having  its  ball,  an  em- 
laced  between  its  legs.1 

inion  avowed  hy  M.  Latreille,  in  his  Memoire  sur  les 

Insectes  Sacre's.  Nothing  is  more  common  than  sculptures  and  paintings  repre- 
senting the  Scarabseus,  or  sacred  dung-beetle  of  the  Egyptians,  and  even  some 
real  ones  have  been  discovered  in  the  sarcophagi.  Some  of  the  artificial  beetles 
met  with  among  the  monuments  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile  were  pierced  so  as  to 
form  necklaces  for  women  ;  others  were  used  as  seals,  as  is  shown  by  the  inscrip- 
tions beneath  them. 

Among  the  people  of  Egypt  the  effigy  of  the  sacred  beetle  has  been  repeated 
in  a  thousand  different  ways,  as  though  it  were  a  kind  of  tutelary  god.  It  is  seen 
everywhere  carved  on  their  monuments,  temples,  tombs,  and  obelisks  ;  there  are 
even  some  represented  on  most  bas-reliefs,  and  they  are  found  at  the  present  day 
sculptured  of  all  dimensions,  and  in  every  possible  material,  from  the  commonest 
stones  to  the  most  precious  metals.  There  are  some  of  colossal  size  in  the  Brit- 
ish Museum  ;  they  are  of  granite,  and  three  to  four  feet  long.  But  for  common 
use  they  were  made  of  very  small  dimensions  and  in  prodigious  quantities  ;  they 
are  found  of  marble,  porphyry,  agate,  lapis-lazuli,  garnet,  and  gold. 

In  my  narrative  I  have  conformed  to  the  opinions  of  French  zoologists,  but  it 
is  probable  that  when  the  history  of  the  dung-beetle  has  been  thoroughly  studied, 
we  shall  not  hear  that  it  is  in  spring,  but  in  autumn  or  the  beginning  of  winter,  that 
they  form  their  balls.  Indeed,  it  was  in  October  that  I  saw,  for  the  first  time, 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  155 

CHAPTER  IV. 

HUNTING   INSECTS. 

MANY  insects  live  solely  by  hunting,  and  the  measures 
they  resort  to  in  this  pursuit  would  justify  a  division  into 
distinct  classes. 

Some  pursue  their  prey  over  hills  and  thickets,  and  at- 
tack it  with  the  courage  of  a  lion.  The  Carabi,  their  robes 
gleaming  with  gold  and  blue,  and  the  active  tiger  beetles, 
are  of  this  class.  And  yet  neither  their  beauty  nor  their 
unappreciated  services  find  favor  with  man  ;  instead  of  pro- 
tecting these  useful  auxiliaries  of  agriculture,  which  every 
day  annihilate  so  many  of  the  destructive  species,  he  de- 
stroys them  without  pity. 

Others,  not  less  ardent  in  the  pursuit  of  prey,  but  much 
more  ingenious,  stretch  out  nets  or  construct  insidious 
snares,  into  which  their  victims  inevitably  plunge. 

The  life  of  insects  presents  some  anomalies  which  are  not 
seen  in  other  animals ;  totally  different  habits  being  met 
with  in  species  almost  physically  identical.  Thus  we  have 
seen  that  the  nymph  of  our  magnificent  dragon-fly  (Libel- 
lula)  lives  in  the  mud  of  the  marshes ;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  larva  of  another  kind,  which  resembles  it  in  every  re- 

the  sacred  dung-beetle  in  the  environs  of  Rome,  occupied  on  the  little  hills  of 
Tivoli  in  rolling  its  balls,  and  in  Upper  Egypt  I  found  them  at  the  same  task  in 
November.  Perhaps,  also,  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile  they  do  not  all  make  use 
of  dung,  as  in  Europe.  In  the  part  where  I  saw  them  busy  forming  their  balls, 
the  river  was  bordered  by  a  wide  desert,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  see  where  they 
could  have  found  dung.  Their  balls  seemed  entirely  made  of  Nile  mud. 


156 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


spect,  one  of  the  Neuroptera,  the  famous  ant-lion,  so  called 
on  account  of  the  frightful  carnage  it  makes  among  the 
ants,  delights  only  in  the  sand  and  the  burning  rays  of  the 
sun. 

This  insidious  larva,  the  most  ingenious,  perhaps,  that  is 
known,  constructs  a  pitfall  in  the  driest  and  finest  sand  that 


81.  Cidndela  campestris.       82.  Carabus  purpureus. 


}.   Chinese  Cidndela. 


it  can  find.  It  consists  of  a  perfectly  regular  funnel,  hol- 
lowed out  beneath  the  level  of  the  soil.  The  insect  only 
employs  its  head  to  clear  out  the  space.  Placing  itself  in 
the  centre  of  its  work,  it  loads  its  head  with  particles  of 
sand,  which  it  afterwards  expels  by  a  brisk  upward  move- 
ment, and  this  movement  is  repeated  with  such  frequency 
that  the  particles  form  an  almost  continuous  jet.  When 
the  sides  of  the  funnel  are  so  regular  and  sloping  that  they 
cannot  be  climbed,  the  larva  buries  itself  in  such  a  way  at 
the  bottom  that  we  see  only  the  threatening  mandibles, 
which  stand  open,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  of  being 
exercised. 


94.  The  Ant-Lion  (Myrmeleonformicarius),  and  its  Pit. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  159 

So  soon  as  ever  an  ant  stumbles  over  the  edge  of  the 
pitfall  it  is  inevitably  borne  down  by  the  inclined  plane  of 
the  infernal  funnel.  In  vain  does  it  try  to  rise  again  ;  the 
sand  yields  beneath  its  feet,  and  it  rolls  with  fatal  certainty 
to  the  bottom,  where  the  terrible  jaws  of  the  ant-lion  at 
once  seize  and  dispatch  it. 

Sometimes  a  larger  insect  falls  into  the  deadly  ambus- 
cade. It  resists,  and  tries  vigorously  to  scale  the  slope 
again.  In  the  mean  time  the  treacherous  ant-lion  remains 
at  its  post,  but  dreading  (from  the  bulk  of  the  debris  which 
rolls  upon  its  head)  the  size  of  the  animal  which  has  thus 
lost  its  way,  it  now  takes  a  direct  part  in  its  destruction, 
and  in  order  to  impede  its  attempts  launches  in  swift  suc- 
cession masses  of  sand  upon  its  prey,  which  accelerate  its 
fall  to  the  bottom  of  the  gulf.  Once  there  it  is  infallibly 
lost ;  the  ant-lion,  thirsting  for  blood,  shows  no  mercy.1 

But  if  the  ant-lion  were  to  keep  the  remains  of  its  food 
near  it,  its  pit  would  soon  be  converted  into  an  uninhab- 
itable charnel-house ;  it  must  therefore  get  rid  of  them  at 
any  sacrifice.  For  this  purpose,  whenever  the  larva  has 
sucked  the  juices  out  of  an  insect,  it  places  the  corpse  upon 
its  head,  and  then,  by  a  vast  effort,  launches  it  into  the  air, 
and  sometimes  throws  it  a  long  way  from  the  borders  of  its 
hole,  in  order  to  obviate  the  suspicion  which  the  corpses  of 

1  The  larva  of  a  fly  (Rhagio  vermileo),  not  unlike  the  common  flesh-maggot, 
constructs  a  funnel-shaped  opening  like  that  of  the  ant-lion.  At  the  bottom  of 
this  it  lies  waiting  for  grubs  which  fall  into  the  trap,  and  on  which  it  feeds. 
Should  they  attempt  to  escape  it  hurls  jets  of  sand-earth  at  them,  and  not  un- 
frequently  brings  them  down  again.  The  ant-lion,  though  not  uncommon  in 
France  and  Switzerland,  has  not,  I  believe,  of  late  years  at  least,  been  seen  in 
Great  Britain.  —  Tu. 


160  THE    UNIVERSE. 

its  victims  might  suggest  to  the  imprudent  travellers  to- 
wards the  fatal  den.  In  some  observations  which  I  made 
on  the  ant-lions  I  saw  them  in  this  way  throw  flies  and 
large  ants  three  inches  from  their  dwellings. 

Other  hunters,  less  ingenious,  but  more  brave,  proceed 
exactly  like  birds  of  prey.  They  are  the  Raptores  of  the 
insect  world,  which  in  their  agile  and  powerful  flight  swoop 
down  like  the  falcon,  and  seize  their  prey  in  mid-air.  To 
these  belong  the  beautiful  insects,  with  transparent  irides- 
cent wings,  which  fly  near  our  pools,  and  which  are  com- 
monly known  as  dragon-flies. 

Although  Minerva  in  her  jealousy  broke  the  loom  of 
Arachne,  still  the  obscure  rival  of  the  goddess,  even  though 
reduced  to  her  own  unaided  powers,  executes  wonderful 
tasks.  Some  spiders  are  remarkable  for  the  perfection  of 
their  weaving  ;  in  others  the  arrangement  reveals  the  most 
astute  intelligence.  In  the  former  category  may  be  placed 
the  regularly  circular  nets  which  the  spiders  of  our  gardens 
stretch  from  branch  to  branch ;  in  the  other,  the  webs  of 
the  species  which  invade  our  dwellings. 

These  latter,  usually  built  in  the  corners  of  the  walls, 
exhibit  a  horizontal  net  soiled  with  dust,  which  is  in  a  sense 
only  the  basement  floor  of  the  carnivorous  insect's  struct- 
ure, for  it  is  in  the  threads  irregularly  crossed  above  this 
that  the  prey  gets  entangled  and  lost.  But  the  most  in- 
genious part  of  this  destructive  engine  is  the  lair  in  which 
the  hunter  lies  concealed.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  circular 
tunnel,  with  a  double  outlet,  and  serving  a  double  purpose  ; 
one  outlet  is  horizontal  and  opens  upon  the  web  ;  the  other 
is  vertical  and  gives  passage  below.  It  is  from  the  former 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  161 

that  the  spider  darts  upon  its  prey;  the  other  fills  the  office 
of  a  trap-door. 

The  spider  takes  the  greatest  care  never  to  leave  on  its 
web  the  carcasses  from  which  it  has  sucked  the  blood ;  such 
a  charnel-house  would  alarm  its  living  prey.  So  soon  as 
ever  a  fly  has  been  immolated,  the  insect  seizes  it,  drags  it 
to  its  tunnel,  and  ejects  it  by  a  lower  opening.  Thus,  when 
we  look  at  the  part  of  the  floor  below,  we  are  astonished  at 
the  numbers  that  have  fallen  victims  to  the  sanguinary 
spider.  Sometimes,  also,  this  hidden  exit  serves  for  it  to  es- 
cape by  when  menaced  by  some  serious  danger.  But  this 
is  a  very  rare  case  ;  its  especial  use,  its  exclusive  purpose, 
is  to  receive  the  debris  of  the  spider's  repasts,  —  a  fact,  I 
believe,  not  noticed  by  any  observer. 

The  disgust  inspired  by  the  spider  is  not  well  founded. 
No  insect  possesses  more  intelligence  or  a  more  wonderful 
structure  ;  its  ugliness  is  forgotten  so  soon  as  we  look  at  it 
without  prejudice.  The  fear  with  which  it  petrifies  some 
persons  is  quite  beyond  reason.  It  is  true  there  are  spiders 
the  bite  of  which  is  as^formidable  as  that  of  our  vipers,  but 
they  only  inhabit  tropical  countries.  The  species  found  in 
France  and  England  are  almost  harmless.  The  spider  found 
in  cellars  is  the  only  one  the  bite  of  which  can  be  consid- 
ered as  attended  with  danger,  and  the  results  of  its  bite, 
although  some  cases  are  related  in  which  it  has  been  fatal, 
are  limited  to  a  sharp  pain  and  some  swelling  and  inflam- 
mation. 

The  notorious  Tarantula  itself,  when  more  closely  studied, 
loses  its  strange  prestige  ;  its  bite  has  ceased  to  produce  the 
11 


162 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


furious  dancing  mania  so  much  spoken  about,  even  in  med- 
ical works.1 


85.  The  Bird-Eating  Spider  (Myyale  avicularia)  killing  a  Humming-Bird.     From 
Sibylle  de  Merian. 

1  The  Tarantula  is  a  large  hunting  spider,  which  inhabits  a  hole  it  scoops  out 
of  the  earth,  from  whence  it  throws  itself  upon  its  prey.  It  is  met  with  all  through 
Italy,  but  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tarentum,  from  whence  its  name 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  163 

The  poison  apparatus  of  spiders  is  precisely  analogous  to 
that  of  serpents,  only  that  it  is  of  microscopic  size.  It  pos- 
sesses mobile  teeth,  hollow  fangs  which  distil  the  poison  into 
the  wound,  and  this  is  secreted  by  a  peculiar  gland,  situated 
in  the  interior  of  the  palpi  attached  to  the  under-jaws, 
which  effect  the  bite. 

In  the  large  tropical  species  this  lethal  fluid  is  so  active 
that  it  kills  in  an  instant  animals  of  a  far  superior  size,  and 
is  often  employed  against  the  birds  which  the  spiders  seize 
on  the  trees.  In  one  of  her  magnificent  plates  Sibylle  de 
Merian,  so  celebrated  for  her  knowledge  and  her  beautiful 
paintings  from  natural  history,  represents  a  touching  scene : 
that  of  a  spider,  the  Mygale  avicularia,  which  is  killing  a 
humming-bird  near  its  nest.1 

Some  well-known  spiders,  which  are  almost  as  large  as 
the  fist,  sometimes  fasten  on  chickens  and  pigeons,  seizing 
them  by  the  throat  and  killing  them  instantaneously,  drink- 
comes.  It  is  found  along  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean,  in  Sicily,  Barbary,  and 
Provence.  This  spider  was  formerly  much  dreaded,  and  the  symptoms  produced 
by  its  bite  were  compared  to  those  of  hydrophobia,  which  procured  for  it  the  name 
of  the  "  mad  spider."  Old  authors  maintained  that  those  who  were  bitten  by  it 
fell  into  a  profound  stupor  or  were  seized  with  convulsions,  for  which  music  was 
a  sovereign  remedy,  by  inducing  them  to  dance,  which  they  did  till  they  were 
exhausted  and  fell  down  senseless.  Baglivi,  though  a  learned  physician,  was  yet 
deceived  as  to  the  Tarantula  disorder,  about  which  he  wrote  a  special  treatise,  in 
which  we  find  set  down  the  airs  most  suited  to  effect  a  cure. —  Baglivi,  Dissert,  de 
Anat.  Morsu  et  Affectibus  Tarentulce,  1 745. 

1  This  animal,  known  in  South  America  as  the  Abamdiu,  or  Great  Spider, 
measures  an  inch  across  the  thorax,  and  spins  a  cocoon  three  inches  long  and 
one  broad.  It  is  not  certain  whether  it  belongs  to  the  hunting  or  the  working 
spiders.  Madame  de  Merian 's  statement  that  it  attacks  the  humming-bird, 
though  at  one  time  boldly  denied,  has  been  confirmed  in  Bates's  Naturalist  on 
the  Amazon,  and  in  the  paper  from  which  this  note  is  taken.  —  Termever,  Proc. 
Essex  Institute,  U.  S.  —  TR. 


164  THE   UNIVERSE. 

ing  their  blood  at  the  same  time.  Hence  in  Columbia, 
where  these  disagreeable  guests  are  common  enough,  they 
are  called  chicken- spiders. 


CHAPTER   V. 

SLAVE-MAKERS   AND   WARLIKE   TRIBES. 

WHEN  we  search  into  the  history  of  insects  we  are  sur- 
prised at  finding  such  violent  passions  in  such  fragile  crea- 
tures :  hatred  animates  them  ;  thirst  for  booty  directs 
them.  To  gratify  these  evil  propensities  they  fight  bloody 
battles,  and  become  transformed  into  land  pirates. 

Man  leads  to  the  battle-field  a  ponderous  troop  of  ani- 
mals, insects  go  single-handed.  The  6000  elephants  which 
Porus  opposed  to  the  triumphal  march  of  Alexander  went 
forth  to  fight  only  when  guided  by  experienced  drivers ; 
whilst  ants,  left  to  their  own  resources,  fight  great  battles, 
and,  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  display  a  great  deal  of 
strategy. 

The  slave-making  instinct  is  strongly  developed  in  this 
group.  A  race  of  zealous  servants  is  indispensable  to  their 
existence,  and,  in  order  to  procure  them,  they  act  like  vil- 
lainous slave-stealers. 

Observers  had  for  a  long  time  remarked  that  certain  ants 
carry  others  in  their  mouths  during  their  peregrinations, 
but  they  could  not  make  out  for  what  purpose.  It  was 
Pierre  Huber  who  discovered  the  mystery.  These  move- 
ments are  so  many  raids,  which  the  insects  carry  out  in  the 


\ 


86.  Return  of  Ants  after  a  Battle,  magnified. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  167 

interests  of  their  republic,  —  slave-razzias  executed  by  main 
force.  These  microscopic  filibusters  do  not  go  into  the  mar- 
kets to  sell  their  captives  by  auction,  but,  like  effeminate 
sybarites,  keep  them  in  order  to  impose  all  the  household 
work  upon  them. 

At  the  head  of  these  daring  slave-makers  we  must  put 
the  red  ant,  or  Amazon,  the  military  expeditions  of  which 
have  been  most  carefully  observed  by  the  naturalists  of  our 
epoch.  They  are  so  frequent  that  one  may  enjoy  the  sight 
of  them  any  fine  day  during  the  summer  season.  Huber 
says  that  the  excursions  of  these  warrior  tribes  have  only 
one  object :  that  of  carrying  off  the  ants,  so  to  speak,  in 
their  swaddling-clothes  from  the  midst  of  a  laborious  people, 
and  converting  them  into  helots  who  will  work  for  them. 

When  the  Amazon  ant  takes  the  field  in  order  to  capture 
slaves,  and  especially  the  miner  ants,  of  which  it  generally 
makes  use,  it  goes  about  its  work  in  a  very  orderly  way. 
The  excursion  always  begins  when  night  is  drawing  on. 
When  they  have  issued  from  their  abode,  the  Amazons 
array  themselves  in  serried  columns,  and  their  army  takes 
its  way  to  the  ants'  nest  which  they  are  about  to  spoliate. 
In  vain  do  the  warriors  seek  to  bar  the  entrance  ;  in  spite 
of  all  such  efforts  the  others  penetrate  into  the  very  heart 
of  the  place,  and  pry  into  all  the  compartments  in  order  to 
choose  their  victims,  the  larvae  and  nymphs.  The  workers 
which  oppose  those  raids  are  simply  thrown  down ;  they 
are  not  made  prisoners,  because  they  would  adapt  them- 
selves with  difficulty  to  the  yoke  ;  the  assailants  want  only 
young  individuals,  which  they  can  mould  to  their  will. 
When  the  place  is  completely  sacked,  each  conqueror  takes 


168  THE   UNIVERSE. 

a  nymph  or  larva  delicately  between  its  teeth  and  prepares 
to  return.  Those  who  cannot  find  nymphs  or  larvse  carry 
off  the  mutilated  dead  bodies  of  their  enemies  in  order  to 
feed  on  them.  Then  the  whole  army,  laden  with  booty, 
and  sometimes  stretching  out  in  a  line  130  feet  in  length, 
triumphantly  regains  its  city  in  the  same  order  as  at  its 
departure. 

So  soon  as  the  young  ants,  torn  from  their  homes,  reach 
the  abode  of  their  spoilers,  the  slaves  already  there  lavish 
the  most  attentive  care  upon  them ;  they  give  them  food, 
cleanse  them,  and  warm  their  chilled  bodies. 

In  the  slave-making  republics  conquerors  and  slaves  end 
by  changing  places,  the  former  only  displaying  courage  at 
the  moment  of  conquest.  Having  stowed  away  their  booty 
in  the  nest,  the  Amazons  refresh  themselves  after  battle  by 
the  pleasures  of  laziness;  but  being  soon  enervated  thereby, 
the  spoilers  pass  under  the  yoke  of  those  they  conquered. 
Their  dependence  is  so  complete  that  if,  after  this,  one  were 
to  carry  off  their  slaves,  privations  and  inaction  would  soon 
destroy  the  tribe. 

These  spoilers,  so  ardent  in  the  chase,  revolt  against  all 
domestic  work  ;  they  only  understand  fighting.  Incapable 
of  constructing  their  abodes  or  nourishing  their  young, 
they  leave  both  these  duties  to  their  slaves.  Should  the 
tribe  be  forced  to  abandon  a  nest  which  is  too  old,  or  be- 
come too  small,  the  slaves  decide  upon  the  question,  and 
carry  the  emigration  into  effect.  The  Amazons  seem  at 
this  time  to  be  sunk  in  the  most  disgraceful  sloth.  Each 
slave  takes  in  its  mandibles  one  of  its  degenerate  masters, 
and  bears  it  to  the  new  dwelling,  just  as  a  cat  carries  in  its 
mouth  the  kitten  taken  from  its  cradle. 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  169 

The  ingenious  Huber  wished  to  see  how  far  the  depend- 
ence of  the  two  social  classes  went,  and  soon  perceived  that 
the  chiefs,  left  to  themselves,  were  quite  unable  to  provide 
for  their  wants  even  in  the  midst  of  abundance.  This 
naturalist,  having  inclosed  thirty  Amazons  with  a  plentiful 
supply  of  food,  but  without  any  slaves,  saw  that  they  fell 
into  a  state  of  the  utmost  apathy,  although  he  placed  the 
larvae  and  nymphs  alongside  of  them  in  order  to  stimulate 
them  to  work.  No  work  whatever  was  done,  and  the  re- 
cluses would  every  one  have  died  of  hunger  rather  than  eat 
alone.  Many  had  already  died,  when  it  occurred  to  the 
Genevese  savant  to  furnish  them  with  a  slave.  She  was 
scarcely  introduced  among  the  dead  and  dying  when  she 
was  at  work,  giving  food  to  the  survivors,  lavishing  her 
care  upon  the  young  larvse,  and  constructing  shelter  for 
them.  She  saved  the  colony.1 

1  Mr.  Holt  (Science  Gossip,  July,  1868)  says  the  ants  (probably  Formica 
fuliginosa)  observed  by  him  seemed  to  have  but  very  little  idea  of  locality,  and 
that,  in  their  eagerness  to  obtain  water,  they  fell  into  a  tank  in  such  numbers  as 
to  threaten  the  extinction  of  the  population.  Mr.  Frederick  Ward,  too  {Science 
Gossip,  Aug.,  1868),  says  that,  having  closely  observed  some  in  a  glass  formicary, 
he  found  less  order  and  method  in  their  operations  than  he  expected.  They 
seemed  to  work  night  and  day  :  he  sometimes  turned  on  the  gas  suddenly  at  two 
A.  M.,  and  found  them  as  busy  as  ever  ;  still  they  did  not  seem  to  get  on  in  a 
workmanlike  manner.  He  frequently  noticed  an  ant  come  out  with  a  piece  of 
dirt  in  its  forceps,  and  run  about  apparently  in  a  state  of  distraction,  as  if  it  did 
not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  Two  ants  were  often  seen  tugging  at  the  same 
piece  for  a  long  while,  which  was  certainly  a  waste  of  time ;  and  a  piece  of  stone 
was  often  dragged  backward  and  forward  by  two  ants  in  their  galleries,  from  a 
mere  spirit  of  opposition,  it  would  seem.  Again,  an  ant  might  be  seen  to  come 
out  of  a  gallery  with  something  in  its  mouth,  run  about  with  it  and  put  it  down, 
having  apparently  lost  itself,  —  a  proceeding  which  it  terminated  by  disappearing 
down  another  hole.  Sometimes,  too,  they  would  go  on  excavating  without  re- 


170  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Nothing  can  be  more  incredible  than  those  facts,  and  yet 


87.  Ant  about  to  milk  Aphides,  highly  magnified. 

moving  the  rubbish  till  they  were  nearly  blocked  in,  or  till  there  was  only  room 
for  one  to  pass.  He  admits,  however,  their  sagacity  in  ejecting  the  dead  bodies 
of  their  comrades,  and  throwing  them  into  a  tank,  their  wonderful  industry,  and 
their  courage.  The  species  observed  by  Mr.  Ward  also  seems  to  have  been  the 
Formica  full f/inosa.  —  TR. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  171 

they  have  been  verified  with  the  most  scrupulous  care,  both 
by  the  great  historian  of  ants,  and  more  recently  in  Eng- 
land by  Messrs.  F.  Smith  and  Darwin. 

All  kinds  of  ants  do  not  so  easily  adapt  themselves  to 
slavery.  There  are  some  very  small  ones,  such  as  the  yel- 
low ant,  which  set  the  Amazons  at  defiance,  and  although 
much  weaker  frighten  them  by  a  show  of  boldness  ;  cour- 
age supplies  the  want  of  strength.  Hence  the  blood-red 
ant,  which  is  one  of  the  most  thorough-going  slave-makers 
we  are  acquainted  with,  never  attempts  to  plunder  the 
dwelling  of  the  yellow  ant,  which  fights  with  fury  to  defend 
its  home,  its  family,  and  its  liberty.  This  is  so  constantly 
the  case  that  Mr.  Smith,  to  his  great  surprise,  found  a  lit- 
tle tribe  of  this  valiant  species  under  a  stone  close  to  a  nest 
of  slave-makers.  They  knew  how  to  make  themselves  re- 
spected there,  and  even  frightened  the  others  by  their  war- 
like attitude. 

The  slave-making  tribes  are  not  occupied  solely  with  the 
capture  of  helots ;  they  frequently  spread  out  over  plants 
in  order  to  carry  off  the  Aphides.  These  are  their  cattle, 
their  milch-cows,  their  goats ;  people  would  never  have 
thought  that  ants  were  a  pastoral  race.  They  are  extremely 
fond  of  a  sweet  liquor  which  distils  from  two  little  teats 
which  the  Aphis  carries  at  the  extremity  of  its  back.  We 
often  find  them  scattered  over  the  surface  of  plants  sucking 
this  fluid  from  individuals  by  turns  as  they  encounter  them. 
At  other  times,  accompanied  by  their  slaves,  they  carry  off 
the  Aphides,  and  imprison  them  in  their  dwelling,  in  order 
to  milk  them  at  leisure,  and  there  they  are  nourished  ex- 
actly like  stalled  animals.  An  ant-nest,  says  Huber,  is 


172  THE   UNIVERSE. 

more  or  less  rich  according  to  the  number  of  Aphides  it 
possesses. 

Huber  discovered  that  the  ants  are  so  greedy  after  this 
sweet  liquor  that,  to  procure  it  more  conveniently,  they 
make  covered  ways  which  lead  from  their  nests  to  the 
plants  inhabited  by  these  miniature  cows.  Sometimes  they 
carry  their  foresight  even  to  a  more  incredible  extent.  In 
order  to  reap  a  richer  harvest  from  the  Aphides,  they  leave 
them  on  the  plants  which  they  habitually  feed  upon,  and 
with  finely  tempered  earth  build  there  little  stables  in 
which  they  confine  them.  The  naturalist  we  have  just 
quoted  discovered  several  of  these  surprising  constructions  ; 
the  fact  is  therefore  beyond  doubt. 

Some  ants,  in  place  of  deriving  from  other  insects  this 
saccharine  juice,  of  which  ours  seem  so  fond,  find  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  it  in  their  own  bodies.  This  is  seen  in  the 
case  of  the  honey-ant.  These  strange  insects,  first  described 
by  M.  Wesmael,  inhabit  Mexico,  living  in  little  subterranean 
galleries.  At  a  particular  time  the  abdomen  of  a  certain 
number  becomes  globular,  transparent,  and  full  of  a  saccha- 
rine matter,  to  such  an  extent  that  it  equals  in  size  a  small 
cherry.  This  honey-like  secretion  being  of  an  exquisite 
taste,  in  certain  regions  where  these  ants  abound  the  women 
and  children  go  and  dig  up  their  subterranean  abodes  to 
collect  the  insects,  which,  after  being  deprived  of  head  and 
thorax,  are  served  up  at  dessert. 

Under  certain  circumstances  the  ants  fight  battles  which 
seem  to  have  no  other  ground  than  antipathy  between 
species  or  tribes. 

Ant-battles  have  had  their  historian,  we  might  almost  say 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  173 

their  bard ;  for  the  younger  Huber  has  described  them  with 
as  true  poetry  as  we  find  in  the  tales  of  Homer  or  the 
strophes  of  the  Thebaid. 

We  can  see  this  in  the  description  of  one  of  these  battles 
taken  verbatim  from  the  Genevese  savant.  It  took  place 
between  two  ant-colonies,  situated  a  hundred  paces  from 
each  other.  "  I  shall  not  say,"  exclaims  Huber,  "  what 
lighted  up  discord  between  these  two  republics,  the  one  as 
populous  as  the  other;  two  empires  do  not  possess  a  greater 
number  of  combatants.  The  two  armies  met  midway  be- 
tween their  respective  residences.  Their  serried  columns 
reached  from  the  field  of  battle  to  the  nest,  and  were  two 


88.  Honey-Ant    Myrmecocyctus  Mexicnnus. 

feet  in  width.  An  immense  reserve  thus  supported  the 
fighting  body,  where  thousands  of  ants,  mounted  on  the 
smallest  eminences,  fought  two  and  two,  attacking  each 
other  by  means  of  their  jaws.  Others  carried  off  prisoners, 
but  not  without  rough  struggles,  for  they  knew  the  cruel 
fate  that  awaited  them  so  soon  as  they  should  reach  the 
hostile  nest. 

"  The  field  of  battle,  which   extended   over  a  space  of 
from  two  to  three  square  feet,  was  strewed  with  dead  bodies 


174  THE    UNIVERSE. 

and  wounded ;  it  was  also  covered  with  venom,  and  exhaled 
a  penetrating  odor.  Here  and  there  single  combats  were 
still  maintained.  The  struggle  began  between  two  ants, 
which  locked  themselves  together  with  their  mandibles, 
while  they  raised  themselves  upon  their  legs.  They  quickly 
grasped  each  other  so  tightly  that  they  rolled  one  over  the 
other  in  the  dust.  Generally  the  two  athletes  were  suc- 
cored, and  chains  were  seen  of  six  or  eight  ants,  locked  one 
with  another,  and  dragging  the  two  adversaries  in  different 
directions,  until  either  one  let  go,  or  was  carried  off  by 
superior  strength." 

At  the  approach  of  night  the  two  armies  effected  a  re- 
treat, and  reentered  their  dwellings.  But  the  next  day  the 
carnage  began  again  with  still  greater  fury,  and  Huber  saw 
the  melee  extend  over  a  depth  of  six  feet  and  two  feet  of 
frontage.  The  exasperation  of  the  combatants  was  so  great 
that  not  one  of  them  noticed  the  observer,  or  dreamed  of 
attacking  him. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ARCHITECTS    AND   DEVOURERS    OF   TOWNS. 

IF  we  transport  ourselves  to  tropical  regions,  where 
nature,  more  vigorous  than  in  colder  climes,  multiplies  on 
every  side  the  sources  of  life,  we  see  insects  attacking  the 
possessions  of  man,  and  fighting  with  him  foot  to  foot. 
They  assail  his  plantations  or  his  dwelling,  and  wage  a 
regular  war  against  him,  —  a  cruel  and  pitiless  war,  —  which 
must  at  times  be  decided  by  the  cannon. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  175 

This  is  the  case  with  the  warrior-ant  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  which  has  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  every  traveller  by  its  extraordinary  buildings  and 
the  havoc  it  makes. 

These  Termites  (Termites  bellicosi),  or  white  ants,  as 
they  are  frequently  though  wrongly  called,1  live  in  repub- 
lics composed  of  different  sorts  of  individuals:  the  males, 
which  have  wings ;  and  the  workmen,  soldiers,  and  queens, 
which  have  none. 

The  workmen  are  occupied  solely  in  constructing  build- 
ings. 

The  mission  of  the  soldiers  is  to  defend  the  colony  and 
maintain  order. 

Lastly  come  the  females,  or  queens,  worshipped  by  the 
whole  population,  which  look  to  them  for  the  continuance 
of  their  race.  They  are  only  monstrous  egg-sacks  ;  mere 
egg-laying  machines  of  the  most  astonishing  fecundity. 
When  their  abdomen  is  swelled  to  its  utmost  extent,  it  is 
not  less  than  2000  times  its  previous  size :  they  can  no 
longer  drag  it  about  with  them,  and  henceforth  remain 
chained  to  one  spot.  The  laying  is  so  rapid  that  we  seem 
to  see  a  fountain  spouting  eggs.  This  receptacle  of  off- 
spring projects  them  at  the  rate  of  sixty  a  minute,  or 
80,000  per  diem. 

The  dimensions  and  solidity  of  the  nests  of  the  warrior 
Termes,  compared  to  the  weakness  of  the  insect,  have  al- 
ways excited  the  astonishment  of  travellers.  They  are 
sometimes  twenty  feet  in  height.  Their  pyramidal  form 

1  They  do  not  belong  to  the  same  order  of  insects  as  our  ants,  which  are  Hy- 
menoptera,  while  the  Termites  are  Neuroptera.  —  TB. 


176 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


gives  them  the  look  of  a  colossal  sugar-loaf  enlarged  at  the 
base,  and  with  the  flanks  broken  by  little  accessory  hillocks. 
When  one  traverses  a  part  where  the  colonies  of  Termites 
abound,  one  might  take  them  at  a  distance  for  an  Indian 
village.  The  walls  of  these  dwellings  are  so  solid  that  the 
wild  cattle  climb  upon  them  without  crushing  them,  when 
they  place  themselves  there  as  sentinels ;  and  the  interior 
contains  chambers  so  large  that  a  dozen  men  can  find 
shelter  in  some  of  them;  the  hunters  place  themselves  in 
them  to  lie  in  wait  for  wild  animals. 


89.  Warrior  Termites  (Termes  bellicosus,  Smeath.  ;  Termesfatatts,  Linn.)-    Soldier,  Work- 
man, Male,  and  Female  swollen  with  Eggs. 

Besides  these  extraordinary  chambers,  we  find  also  in  tho 
cities  of  these  social  republics  long  galleries  as  wide  as  the 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  179 

bore  of  a  large  cannon,  and  which  extend  as  much  as  three 
or  four  feet  into  the  ground. 

The  monuments  of  which  we  are  proud  are  insignificant 
structures  compared  to  those  built  by  these  fragile  insects. 
The  nests  of  the  Termites  are  often  500  times  as  high  as 
the  length  of  their  bodies,  and  it  has  therefore  been  cal- 
culated that  if  we  gave  our  houses  a  proportional  height, 
they  would  be  four  or  five  times  as  high  as  the  pyramids  of 
Egypt. 

Other  Termites,  instead  of  constructing  these  astonishing 
abodes,  occupy  themselves  mischievously  in  attacking  ours, 
and  invade  them  sometimes  from  the  roof  to  the  founda- 
tion ;  everything  then  goes  to  ruin,  house  and  furniture 
alike.  These  insidious  depredators  make  their  way  silently 
underground,  and  tunnel  long  galleries,  by  means  of  which 
they  all  at  once  invade  our  dwellings.  Then  they  pene- 
trate into  all  the  timber-work,  and  totally  destroy  the  in- 
terior of  it,  only  leaving  a  surface  as  thin  as  a  wafer.  Noth- 
ing reveals  their  hidden  havoc  to  the  eye ;  we  see  our 
house,  we  believe  in  its  real  existence,  while  we  possess 
only  a  phantom  of  it,  —  a  house  of  cards,  which  falls  at  the 
first  shock.  Smeathman,  who  has  left  us  such  an  interest- 
ing history  of  these  Neuroptera,  relates  that  they  some- 
times destroy  large  towns,  which  have  been  deserted  by 
their  inhabitants. 

Mrs.  Lee  told  me  that  in  the  districts  of  Africa  where 
she  lived  the  Termites  take  but  a  very  short  time  to  devour 
an  entire  dwelling.  A  staircase  of  very  fair  size  is  eaten  in 
a  fortnight ;  tables,  arm-chairs,  and  chairs,  in  much  less. 
This  celebrated  traveller  assured  me  that  often  at  Sierra 


180  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Leone,  on  returning  to  one's  house  after  a  short  absence, 
only  the  ghost  of  the  furniture  is  to  be  found.  The  ex- 
terior still  possesses  all  its  freshness,  but  the  substance  is 
gone,  and  every  piece  that  is  hollowed  out  falls  to  powder 
beneath  the  hand  of  any  one  who  touches  it,  or  under  the 
weight  of  any  one  who  sits  down  upon  it. 

Instead  of  these  conical  domes  ornamented  with  turrets 
grouped  together  in  villages  in  the  middle  of  the  plains, 
some  species  of  this  group,  such  as  the  tree  termite,  prefer 
to  suspend  their  nests  amid  the  large  branches  of  the 
strongest  trees.  These  aerial  masses,  mingling  with  the  fo- 
liage of  the  trees,  are  very  striking,  for  some  of  them  are 
larger  than  a  hogshead.  The  nests,  which  are  extremely 
porous,  present  inside  an  inextricable  labyrinth  of  tortuous 
canals ;  they  are  formed  of  a  matrix  or  compact  paste,  com- 
posed of  fine  particles  of  wood,  gum,  and  juices  of  plants. 

For  some  years  past  two  species  of  this  kind  have  been 
established  in  France,  and  have  caused  very  serious  havoc 
in  some  of  the  southern  departments ;  they  are  the  light- 
shunning  termite  and  the  heath  termite.  Their  introduc- 
tion does  not  seem  to  date  further  back  than  1780. 

The  devouring  cohorts  of  the  light-shunning  termite 
have  invaded  Rochefort,  La  Rochelle,  and  Aix,  where  they 
have  completely  undermined  a  number  of  houses,  and  en- 
tirely ruined  them.  At  one  time  these  destructive  pests 
set  to  work  to  gnaw  the  prefecture  of  La  Rochelle  and  the 
archives,  without  any  person  suspecting  it;  wainscoting, 
pasteboard,  papers,  were  all  annihilated  without  any  ex- 
ternal sign  of  this  havoc  appearing.  At  present  the  papers 
of  the  bureaux  are  only  preserved  by  keeping  them  in 
zinc  boxes. 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM. 


181 


At  Tonnay-Charente  the  Termites,  having  gnawed  away 
the  supports  of  a  dining-room  without  its  being  perceived, 
the  flooring  collapsed  during  a  party,  and  the  entertainer 
and  his  guests  sank  through. 


91.  Nest  of  the  Tree  Termite  (Termes  arborum).     Museum  of  Rouen. 

In  tropical  regions  certain  ants  are  not  less  to  be  dreaded 
than  the  voracious  Termites.  They  do  not  destroy  our 
houses,  but  they  invade  the  fields,  and  build  there  enormous 
nests  fifteen 'to  twenty  feet  high,  which  look  like  so  many 
little  hills.  They  multiply  to  such  an  extent  in  certain 
plantations  that  the  colonist  is  obliged  to  abandon  them. 


182  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Sometimes,  however,  he  resists  the  invaders,  declares  a  war 
of  extermination  against  them,  and  burns  their  dwellings  by 
the  aid  of  certain  combustible  materials.  Sometimes  artil- 
lery charged  with  grape-shot  is  employed  to  overthrow  the 
lofty  fortresses  of  these  ants,  and  scatter  both  the  ruins 
and  the  architects. 

Thus  is  man  obliged  to  attack  an  insect  with  cannon. 

Sometimes  he  resorts  to  the  mine,  a  step  he  is  compelled 
to  take  against  certain  winged  ants  in  the  tropical  countries, 
which  sink  their  nests  as  much  as  twenty-five  feet  in  the 
ground;  and  these  are  so  compact  that  they  can  only  be 
torn  up  by  the  aid  of  powder,  and  by  overturning  all  the 
earth  round  about  them.  Ch.  Miiller  relates  that  in  Brazil 
large  districts  on  the  banks  of  the  Parana  have  been  in  this 
way  transformed  almost  into  deserts. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GRAVE-DIGGERS    AND   MINERS. 

DESPITE  that  supremacy  over  all  creation  which  the  pride 
of  man  attributes  to  himself,  a  feeble  insect  often  surpasses 
him  in  energy,  and  in  certain  cases  in  intelligence.  Leave 
one  of  our  race  entirely  to  the  resources  of  his  own  organs, 
and  bid  him  bury  an  elephant  or  rhinoceros;  he  would 
spend  the  best  part  of  his  life  in  trying.  His  nails  would 
be  worn  out  before  the  pit  for  the  colossus  was  finished,  and 
all  his  strength  would  be  exhausted  to  no  purpose  in  order 
to  place  it  there  and  cover  it  with  earth. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  183 

Among  the  Coleoptera  there  is  one  which  undertakes  to 
execute  an  equally  herculean  task  in  a  few  hours. 

When  a  dead  mole  is  abandoned  in  a  field  we  imme- 
diately notice  the  arrival  of  a  little  insect  speckled  with 
black  and  orange,  which  in  three  or  four  hours  effectually 
inters  the  mammal.  And  yet  its  size  compared  to  that  of 
the  latter  is  not  greater  than  that  of  man  in  proportion  to 
the  elephant. 

Go  a  step  further :  give  one  of  our  species  pickaxes  and 
wheelbarrows  to  break  up  and  carry  ovff  the  soil,  and  he  will 
take  more  weeks  to  accomplish  his  task  than 
the  burying-beetle  —  for  such  is  the  name  of 
the  insect  —  requires  hours. 

It  is  a  maternal  instinct  that  guides  and  ani- 
mates the  burier.     The  insect  requires  a  dead 
mole  or  some  other  mammal,  to  the  shelter  of 
which  it  may  intrust  its  offspring,  and  it  only  ™ 
inters  the  corpse  in  order  to  keep  it  fresh  up  to  tor' 
the  moment  when  its  hungry  larva  will  issue  from  the  egg. 

The  insect  requires  for  its  progeny  a  food  they  will  like. 
If  we  throw  a  frog  or  a  bird  upon  the  ground,  it  will  not 
bury  either  of  them  ;  but  throw  out  a  dead  mole  in  a  gar- 
den, where  these  burying-beetles  are  perhaps  never  seen, 
and  one  of  them,  which  has  scented  it  afar  off,  will  imme- 
diately arrive  and  inter  it. 

For  this  purpose  the  Necrophorus  does  not  begin  by  dig- 
ging a  hole,  as  one  might  think  ;  it  always  remains  unseen, 
hidden  beneath  the  corpse  which  it  is  burying.  The  work 
goes  on  without  being  noticed,  and  consists  in  throwing 
up  on  the  sides  of  the  mole  the  soil  which  was  below  it ; 


184 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


this  manoeuvre  being  continued  at  the  same  time  beneath 
all  parts  of  the  dead  body,  it  disappears,  sinking  little  by 
little.  And  when  it  has  at  last  arrived  below  the  level  of 
the  soil,  the  sexton  has  only,  in  order  to  hide  it  from  view 
and  finish  its  work,  to  throw  a  few  portions  of  the  upturned 


93.  Burying-Beetles  interring  a  small  Rat. 

earth  upon  the  little   animal,  which  is   as  completely  en- 
tombed as  if  it  had  been  placed  in  a  liquid  paste.1 

Thus  ends  the  task  which  I  have  several  times  seen  exe- 
cuted with  my  own  eyes,  and  which  some  persons  have 
called  in  question  on  account  of  its  being  so  extraordinary. 

1  The  English  bury  ing- beetle  (Necrophorus  Vespillo),  almost,  if  not  quite, 
identical  with  that  of  France,  certainly  inters  birds.  Rennie  found  four  hard  at 
work  on  Putney  Heath,  burying  a  dead  crow  ;  and  M.  Gleditsch  says  that  in 
fifty  days  four  beetles  interred  four  frogs,  three  small  birds,  two  fishes,  one  mole, 
and  two  grasshoppers  ;  besides  the  entrails  of  a  fish,  and  two  morsels  of  the  lungs 
of  an  ox.  —  Act.  Acad.  Berolin.  1752.  —  Tn. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  185 

Other  insects  hollow  out  the  ground  solely  in  order  to 
find  their  food  there,  and  to  construct  a  lodging  for  their 
offspring.  These  are  true  miners  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word. 

Many  belong  to  this  category,  but  there  are  scarcely  any 
the  work  of  which  is  so  dreaded  by  the  farmer  as  that  of 
the  mole-cricket.  In  some  parts  of  Germany  the  alarm 
which  this  insect  inspires  is  such  that  a  popular  saying 


94.  Mole-Cricket,  natural  size  :   Gryllotalpa  vulgaris. 

. 

warns  the  driver  of  any  vehicle  to  kill  without  pity  all 
those  he  finds,  should  he  even  have  to  check  his  team  on 
the  slope  of  a  mountain  or  the  edge  of  a  precipice. 

This  insect,  the  name  of  which  recalls  at  the  same  time 
its  subterranean  habits  and  its  family,  often  causes  great 
havoc  in  our  gardens  by  hollowing  out  its  galleries,  and 
cutting  through  the  roots  of  plants  which  cross  its  path.1 

1  Possibly  in  pursuit  of  worms  and  ants,  on  which  it  feeds.  It  eats,  on  an 
average,  about  three  worms  a  day,  sucking  out  the  flesh  and  leaving  the  skin 
entire.  —  Science  Gossip,  1867,  p.  232.  Mr.  Gould  fed  one  for  several  months 
on  ants.  —  TR. 


186  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Nature  has  for  this  purpose  endowed  it  with  formidable 
weapons.  These  are  its  fore  paws,  the  outspread  end  of 
which  has  the  greatest  analogy,  both  as  to  the  form  and  the 
way  in  which  the  insect  uses  it,  to  the  large  hands  of  the 
mole  ;  they  act  like  powerful  cutting  picks,  by  means  of 
which  the  animal  digs  its  way  into  the  ground  and  throws 
back  the  particles  of  earth. 

Other  animals  of  the  same  class  excavate  their  galleries 
in  a  picked  soil ;  it  is  in  the  midst  of  the  tissue  of  plants 
that  they  hollow  out  their  tortuous  windings.  For  this 
purpose  they  attack  indiscriminately  leaves,  fruit,  and 
wood ;  nothing  resists  their  teeth,  which  are  the  instru- 
ments they  perform  this  work  by. 

Reaumur  has  classed  separately  the  caterpillars  which 
bore  galleries  between  the  two  layers  of  the  leaves,  and 
very  rightly  calls  them  miners.  We  can  any  day  see  their 
doings  on  the  leaves  of  our  trees,  where  they  carve  out 
winding  paths,  which  are  recognized  by  a  white  track, 
caused  by  the  insect  having  eaten  all  the  green  substance, 
and  only  left  the  epidermis  of  the  leaf. 


CHAPTER   VIIL 

UPHOLSTERERS   AND    CARPENTERS. 

DESPITE  the  proud  preeminence  claimed  by  man,  in  how 
few  cases  will  the  work  of  his  hands  compare  with  that  of 
the  lowest  creatures !  Can  the  thread  spun  by  human 
means  stand  comparison  with  that  of  the  spider  ?  The 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  187 

work  of  the  insect,  too,  exhibits  a  remarkable  complication ; 
for,  fine  as  it  is,  it  results  from  the  union  of  many  distinct 
threads.  It  is  produced  by  four  or  six  teats,  or  spinnerets, 
situated  at  the  extremity  of  the  abdomen,  and  the  silky 
matter  itself  issues  by  a  sieve-like  apparatus ;  each  sieve 
containing,  according  to  Bonnet,  more  than  a  thousand 
holes.  As  the  filaments  are  projected  outwards,  they  agglu- 
tinate together  in  such  a  manner  that  each  thread  is  com- 
posed of  at  least  4000,  and  sometimes  of  6000,  fibres,  and 
yet  Leuwenhoeck  affirms  that  it  is  so  slender  as  to  require 
4,000,000  to  make  up  a  silk  thread  as  thick  as  one  of  the 
hairs  of  one's  beard.1 

The  threads  of  some  exotic  species  possess  a  much  greater 
power  of  resistance  than  we  observe  in  ours.  Travellers 
relate  that  in  equatorial  countries  spider-webs  are  seen 
strong  enough  to  arrest  humming-birds  as  a  net  would,  and 
it  has  even  been  said  that  a  man  only  breaks  them  with 
some  difficulty. 

The  silk  of  our  spiders  is  always  of  a  dirty  gray,  but  in 
tropical  regions  the  color  varies  to  a  certain  extent.  Some 
of  these  insects  produce  different  colored  threads,  which 
they  interlace  with  admirable  skill.  Some  are  red,  others 
yellow,  others  again  black,  and  with  all  these  they  form  a 
three-colored  fabric. 

Industrial  art  has  vainly  attempted  to  utilize  the  silk  of 
the  spider ;  but  that  produced  by  the  European  species  has 
so  little  power  of  resistance  that  it  has  never  been  used  to 

1  Kirby  and  Spence  say  that  the  holes  of  the  threads  are  so  fine  and  so 
crowded  together  that  there  are  1000  of  them  in  the  space  covered  by  the  point 
of  a  needle. 


188  THE    UNIVERSE. 

any  profit.  Entomologists,  however,  relate  that  Louis  XIV. 
had  a  dress  made  of  it  for  himself,  but  the  want  of  strength 
in  this  newly  invented  cloth  soon  disgusted  him  with  his 
fantasy.  But  it  appears  that  the  webs  of  some  American 
species  possess  a  sufficient  power  of  resistance  to  admit  of 
being  employed  for  this  purpose.  Alcide  d'Orbigny  had  a 
pair  of  trousers  made  of  spider-webs,  which  lasted  a  very 
long  time. 

Some  years  ago,  on  a  magnificent  autumn  morning,  I  was 
walking  in  the  vast  meadows  which  border  the  Seine ;  the 
sky  was  azure,  and  the  sun  was  shining  splendidly.  What 
was  my  astonishment  at  seeing  that  the  entire  surface  of 
the  freshly-mown  grass  was  covered  with  a  net- work  of 
fabulous  delicacy ! 

The  rays  of  light,  gleaming  obliquely  upon  this  immense 
white  veil,  made  the  whole  surface  of  it  iridescent ;  and  the 
harmonious  regularity  of  this  sheet  of  silk,  which  extended 
further  than  the  eye  could  see,  was  only  interrupted  by  the 
rents  made  by  the  grazing  cattle,  the  limbs  of  which,  cov- 
ered with  silky  flakes,  bore  witness  to  their  theft  of  the  del- 
icate gauze.  Finally,  here  and  there  some  of  these  white 
filaments,  borne  by  the  breeze  over  the  surface  of  the 
meadows,  floated  in  the  atmosphere,  and  fell  upon  our 
dresses. 

I  had  come  by  accident  upon  all  the  phases  of  a  phenom- 
enon, the  mystery  of  which  our  savants  have  long  been 
unable  to  penetrate.  This  silky  tissue,  spread  over  all  the 
herbage,  was  the  work  of  myriads  of  little  spiders,  beauti- 
fied by  the  splendor  of  the  heavens.  And  these  flakes 
wandering  in  the  air  represented  fragments  of  it,  being 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  189 

nothing  more  than  the  mysterious  filaments  called  by  the 
vulgar  threads  of  the  Virgin. 

These  flakes,  seen  falling  from  the  air  in  fine  autumn 
days,  after  having  been  looked  upon  as  a  simple  chemical 
product  of  the  atmosphere,  condensed  by  some  special 
agent,  have  been  made  out  by  Latreille  to  be  only  the 
handiwork  of  different  kinds  of  spiders,  and  particularly  of 
the  garden-spiders,  transported  to  a  distance  by  the  agita- 
tion of  the  winds.1 

Other  spiders,  instead  of  displaying  their  productions  in 
the  form  of  carpets,  woven  as  it  were  of  the  mist,  which 
overspread  our  verdant  fields,  construct  compact  and  solid 
hangings,  with  which  they  line  the  insides  of  their  dwell- 


95.  Garden-Spider  (Epeira  diitdema).     1,  male;  2,  female. 

ings.  The  mason-spider  (My  gale  cmmentaria,  Latreille), 
very  appropriately  thus  named,  occupies  itself  in  this  way. 
It  is  a  true  sybarite,  which  incloses  itself  in  its  abode,  and 
there  reposes  upon  soft  yielding  drapery. 

Its  habitation  consists  of  a  hole,  several  inches  deep,  ex- 

1  According  to  Latreille,  these  "threads  of  the  Virgin"  are  principally  pro- 
duced by  young  spiders  belonging  to  the  genera  Epiera  and  Thomisus.  Some 
chemists  thought,  with  M.  Raspail,  that  they  were  only  aerial  albumen  precipi- 
tated to  the  earth  in  the  form  of  flakes. 


190  THE   UNIVERSE. 

cavated  in  the  ground,  and  perfectly  cylindrical.  All  the  in- 
terior is  tapestried,  and  in  this  part  of  the  work  the  mason- 
spider  imitates  the  decorator,  who  places  only  a  coarse 
material  next  the  wall,  and  afterwards  covers  it  with  rich 
hangings.  The  spider  also  makes  use  of  a  double  layer :  the 
one,  which  it  fixes  upon  the  rough  earthen  wall  of  its  sub- 
terranean hole,  is  thick  and  negligently  wrought ;  the  other, 
which  is  placed  over  this,  is,  on  the  contrary,  woven  with  its 
finest  silk,  and  skilfully  hung. 

The  entrance  to  the  habitation  is  closed  as  hermetically 
as  it  can  possibly  be  by  a  little  door  or  lid,  the  lower  side  of 
which  is  slightly  convex  and  furnished  with  a  cushion  of 
silk,  whilst  the  upper  part  is  made  of  the  same  materials  as 
the  soil,  in  such  a  manner  that  when  the  insect  is  inclosed 
within  its  abode,  nothing  without  reveals  its  existence. 
This  door  itself  is  a  little  masterpiece  of  finish  and  patience. 
The  mason-spider  (My gale)  possesses  the  knowledge  of  the 
miner,  but  in  no  degree  that  of  the  joiner  or  potter ;  hence 
it  learns  from  its  own  resources  to  barricade  its  refuge. 
The  solid  lid  which  serves  it  for  this  purpose  is  composed  of 
layers  of  silk,  between  each  of  which  is  found  a  layer  of 
earth.  When  the  task  is  completed,  forty  alternate  layers 
of  silk  and  earth  can  be  counted,  and  it  is  with  the  first, 
which  extend  from  the  soil  to  the  door,  that  the  little  elas- 
tic hinge  is  formed. 

When  the  spider  wants  to  issue  forth  it  lifts  this  mova- 
ble cover,  and  when  it  reenters  its  underground  abode  it 
shuts  up  its  trap-door  close,  and  sleeps  in  security.  But 
should  any  noise,  any  shaking,  intimate  that  an  attempt  is 
being  made  to  violate  the  sanctity  of  its  dwelling  its  vigi- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  191 

lance  is  awakened  in  an  instant.  With  one  bound  it  darts 
to  the  gate,  to  which  it  hooks  itself  by  half  its  claws,  while 
with  the  others  it  clings  to  the  tapestry  of  its  hole.  If  we 
now,  for  curiosity's  sake,  gently  raise  the  door,  a  slight  re- 


96.  The  Mason-Spider,  My  gale  ccementaria  (Latreille),  and  Interior  of  its  Dwelling. 

sistance  is  felt,  and  when  it  is  half  open  we  see  the  last 
struggles  of  the  spider  and  its  threatening  head  ;  it  defends 
its  hearth  to  the  last  extremity.1 

1  Several  species  of  mason-spiders  form  nests  of  this  kind.  Among  these  are 
the  Mygale  nidulans  of  Walckenaer,  and  the  Mygale  cratiens,  or  clay-kneader,  of 
Latreille.  A  nest  supposed  to  belong  to  this  insect  was  opened  and  shut  several 


192  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  name  of  joiners  is  given  to  those  legions  of  insects 
which,  with  their  powerful  mandibles,  cut  and  divide  wood, 
either  to  nourish  themselves  with,  or  to  construct  little 
rooms  furnished  with  partitions,  and  destined  to  receive 
their  offspring. 

The  jet  ant  (Formica  fuliginosa),  so  wonderful  as  a 
carver,  belongs  to  the  first  section  of  these  ingenious 
joiners.  It  establishes  itself  in  the  holes  of  our  aged  trees. 
There  it  excavates  an  elegant  and  complicated  dwelling, 
consisting  of  a  certain  number  of  stories  one  above  the 
other,  the  floors  of  which  are  but  a  little  thicker  than  stout 
paper,  and  support  long  vistas  of  tiny  c  lumns  of  polished 
wood ;  the  whole  forming  a  perfect  palace,  through  which 
an  animated  throng  keeps  moving  about.  Other  kinds  of 
ants  do  not  disdain  to  establish  themselves  in  the  large 
timbers  of  our  houses,  the  stability  of  which  is  sometimes 
thus  endangered. 

In  the  second  category  is  found  the  larva  of  the  goat- 
moth,  a  night-moth  which  sometimes  reaches  a  length  of 
four  or  five  inches,  and  is  thicker  than  the  finger.  It 
gnaws  the  inside  of  great  trees,  and  scoops  out  in  their 
trunks  wide  and  long  tortuous  galleries,  which  sometimes 
suffice  to  kill  them.  We  see  that  it  works  all  the  more 
zealously  because  its  labor  is  to  satisfy  a  want ;  it  lives  on 
wood. 

hundreds  of  times  in  presence  of  different  persons  without  in  the  least  destroying 
the  hinge.  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  spiders  is  that  found  by  the  Rev. 
Revett  Shepherd  in  the  fen  ditches  of  Norfolk,  which  forms  a  raft  of  weeds 
about  three  inches  in  diameter,  probably  held  together  by  silken  cords,  on  which 
it  floats  about  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  drowning  insects.  —  Kirby  and  Spence, 
In  trod.  i.  425.  —  TR. 


97.  Goat-Moth  and  Willow-Eating  Caterpillar  :   Cossus  ligniperda. 
1,  2.  Image  or  perfect  Insect.    3.  Pupa.    4.  Larva. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  195 


^  When  several  of  these  powerful  caterpillars  attack  an 
•in  at  the  same  time  it  is  ruined  very  rapidly.  This  insect 
Bis  sometimes  been  seen  to  utterly  destroy  large  avenues 
of  lofty  trees  :  hence  the  name  of  Cossus  ligniperda  (Wood- 
Destroying  Cossus)  has  been  given  to  it.  This  Cossus  is, 
unfortunately,  common  enough  in  France.  Frequently 
while  walking  in  a  plantation  of  elms  we  can  see  on  the  sur- 
face of  some  of  these  trees  holes,  from  which  issues  a  sort 
of  moist  sawdust.  These  are  the  entrances  to  the  hidden 
tunnels  gnawed  by  the  larva  of  the  dreaded  moth. 

The  larva  of  the  Great  Capricornis  (Cerambyx  heros), 
which  mines  the  interior  of  ancient  oaks,  and  often  injures 
the  most  beautiful  pieces  of  carpenter's  work,  has  its  back 
cuirassed  with  solid  wrinkled  plates,1  which  serve  the  same 
purpose  as  the  chimney-sweep's  knee-pads,  and  protect  its 
skin  when  it  climbs  its  wooden  chimneys. 

But  we  find  artisans  endowed  with  a  very  different  kind 
of  ingenuity  in  a  certain  tribe  of  bees  called  carpenter- 
bees,  from  their  great  skill  in  working  wood.  They  live 
principally  in  tropical  countries.  One  kind,  however,  in- 
habits our  latitudes  ;  it  has  the  look  of  a  great  humble-bee 
of  the  most  beautiful  blue  color,  and  is  known  by  the  name 
of  the  carpenter-bee,  Megachile  Simla.  Impelled  merely 
by  maternal  instinct,  its  work,  which  consists  of  as  many 
little  chambers  as  it  lays  eggs,  is  a  masterpiece  of  skill  and 
foresight.  It  generally  attacks  beams,  cutting  in  them, 
lengthwise,  canals,  which  are  as  much  as  a  dozen  inches 
deep,  and  more  than  a  third  of  an  inch  wide. 

When  one  of  these  great  excavations  has  attained  its 
1  See  the  figure  on  p.  127. 


196  THE   UNIVERSE. 

entire  length,  the  artisan  occupies  itself  in  sheltering  its 
offspring  in  it.  For  this  purpose  it  divides  the  groove  into 
as  many  little  chambers  as  it  is  about  to  deposit  eggs. 
Each  of  these  chambers  receives  one  egg  only,  and  before 
closing  it  hermetically  the  bee  stores  up  a  mass  of  honey 
and  pollen  which  will  suffice  for  all  the  wants  of  the  larva 
that  is  to  be  born  there.  After  this,  the  skilful  carpenter, 


98.  Carpenter-Bee  and  its  Chambers  for  its  Young. 

by  means  of  finely-rasped  wood  agglutinated  with  its  saliva, 
constructs  a  slender  partition,  which  separates  each  one 
from  that  next  to  it.  In  the  long  excavation  which  it  has 
hollowed  out,  the  insect  thus  forms  a  dozen  little  cells, 
which  are  stuffed  with  alimentary  pap. 

When  the  little  creature  is  born,  it  finds  itself  sufficiently 
restricted  as  to  space,  but  in  proportion  as  its  food  dimin- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  197 

ishes  its  movements  become  more  free.  The  aliment  has 
been  wisely  proportioned  to  its  wants ;  the  life  of  the  larva 
terminates  at  the  moment  when  famine  is  about  to  set  in. 
The  chrysalis  rests  imprisoned  in  its  little  chamber,  but 
when  the  fly  has  thrown  off  its  coverings  air  and  light  are 
absolutely  requisite  for  it.  It  then  gnaws  the  partitions 
which  intercept  its  way,  and  commits  itself  to  the  air,  soon 
in  its  turn  to  commence  labors  similar  to  those  its  mother 
executed.  Such  is  its  destiny.1 

1  The  English  carpenter-bee  is  far  inferior  in  skill  to  this  insect,  the  beautiful 
violet  Xylocopa  {Xylocopa  violaced)  of  English  naturalists,  which  bores  a  tunnel 
twelve  times  the  length  of  her  body  without  leaving  any  chips,  and  fixes  her 
shelves  so  finely  that  a  number  of  fragments  are  as  solid  as  one  piece.  It  can, 
however,  scarcely  be  said  that  either  of  these  insects  excels  the  poppy-bee  and 
the  rose-leaf  cutter  either  in  skill  or  taste. 

The  poppy-bee  (Osmia  papaveris,  Latreille)  excavates  a  hole  three  inches 
deep  in  the  ground,  which  it  smooths,  polishes,  and  then  hangs  with  the  flower 
leaves  of  the  scarlet  poppy,  laid  down  with  such  skill  that  they  are  as  smooth  as 
glass,  although  when  we  cut  them  with  scissors,  and  take  the  greatest  care  with 
them,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  keep  them  from  wrinkling.  The  rose-leaf  cutter 
(Megachile  centuncularis,  Latreille)  requires  circular  pieces  of  rose-leaf  to  line 
her  nest,  so  she  cuts  out  the  portion  she  wants  as  quickly  as  we  could  do  with 
scissors,  and  much  more  neatly.  Not  to  impede  her  progress,  she  keeps  the  cut 
portion  between  her  legs,  using  her  body  as  a  trammel.  When  she  has  nearly 
completed  this  part  of  her  task,  she  poises  herself  on  her  wings,  lest  the  weight 
of  her  body  should  tear  off  the  piece  prematurely.  Then  taking  the  piece  to  the 
cell,  she  fixes  it  to  the  inside,  solely  by  calculating  upon  the  natural  spring  of  the 
leaf,  and  so  adapts  the  pieces  that  the  middle  of  one  always  overlies  a  join  in  the 
others.  Finally,  having  stored  the  cell  with  pollen  and  honey,  she  deposits  an 
egg,  and  covers  the  opening  with  three  pieces  of  rose-leaf,  so  exactly  circular 
that  they  could  not  be  more  accurately  drawn  with  compasses.  — TR. 


198  THE    UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

CLOTH-CUTTERS  AND  LEAD-EATERS. 

SEAMEN  are  great  admirers  of  certain  crustaceans  which 
have  the  singular  habit  of  eating  a  certain  class  of  propri- 
etors in  order  to  make  themselves  masters  of  their  domi- 
ciles. After  having  devoured  the  mollusc  which  resides  in  a 
particular  kind  of  shell,  they  convert  it  into  an  abode,  which 
they  drag  about  everywhere  with  them,  and  beneath  the 
roof  of  which  they  shelter  themselves  from  their  enemies 


99.  Larvae  of  the  Clothes  Moth  (Tinea  sarcitdla),  magnified. 

by  burying  themselves  like  a  soldier  in  his  sentry-box,  or  a 
frightened  monk  in  his  cell.  Hence  the  names  of  soldier- 
crab  and  hermit-crab  which  are  given  to  these  curious  brig- 
ands of  our  shores. 

Certain  insects  which  require  a  shelter  are  less  ferocious 
and  much  more  intelligent  in  their  manners.  Too  weak  to 
bear  the  injurious  action  of  the  air,  their  larva  knows  how 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


199 


to  cut  out  for  itself  a  suit  of  clothes.  Felted  with  great 
care,  this  suit  is  enlarged  in  proportion  to  the  growth  of  the 
larva,  which  makes  continual  additions  to  it.  Should  the 
reader  amuse  himself  with  despoiling  the  worm  of  its  cover- 
ing, it  immediately  fabricates  another.  And  as  its  toil  is 
incessant,  if  we  place  it  upon  cloths  of  different  colors,  it 
forms  for  itself  a  perfect  harlequin's  dress  made  of  party- 
colored  shreds  and  patches.  This  insect  is  the  clothes-moth, 
Tinea  sarcitella  (Fabricius),  unfortunately  too  common  in 
our  wardrobes,  and  which,  after 
undergoing  its  metamorphosis,  dis- 
plays to  us  a  little  butterfly  of  sur- 
prising beauty. 

Certain  aquatic  larvae,  not  finding    100.  ciothes-Moth  in  its  butterfly 

the    fine    doth  dreSS    Of    the    Clothes-  state,  magnified. 

moth  a  sufficient  protection  against  fish  and  frogs,  require  a 
stouter  envelope  and  choose  the   most  varied  materials  to 


101.  Sheath  Phryganea:  Phryganea  striatd  (Linnaeus).     Larva  and  Adult  Insect. 

make  it  of.     They  often  form   an  extremely  solid  sheath 
by  gluing  and  fitting  together  little  stones. 

Sometimes,  also,  the  Phryganese  —  for  so  these  prudent 


200  THE   UNIVERSE. 

workmen  are  named  —  construct  their  protecting  sheaths  of 
fresh-water  shells ;  finally,  at  other  times  they  cut  for  this 
purpose  slender  herbs,  and  cover  their  whole  body  with 
them  in  such  a  manner  that  at  the  bottom  of  a  pool  they 
look  like  tiny  bottles  of  hay  walking  about  of  themselves, 
for  we  do  not  perceive  the  timid  inhabitants. 

However,  the  common  Phryganea  (Phryganea  communis) 
seems  to  give  little  heed  to  the  nature  of  the  materials  it 


102.  Giant  Sirex  (Slrex  giganteus),  the  Larva  of  which  gnaws  Lead. 

employs,  and  willingly  makes  use  of  all  it  finds  at  hand. 
Having  carefully  extracted  several  of  its  larvae  from  their 
shelly  sheaths,  and  afterwards  placed  them  in  vessels  of 
water,  the  bottom  of  which  was  covered  solely  with  little 
pearls  of  various  colors,  I  saw  them  immediately  set  to  work 
to  make  a  new  residence,  choosing  here  and  there  pearls  of 
the  most  different  hues,  in  such  a  way  that  when  the  con- 
struction was  finished  each  Phryganea's  dress  resembled  a 
little  case  in  mosaic,  promenading  on  the  walls  of  my  crys- 
tal vase. 

Other   insects,   instead  of   these   portable    abodes,  labo- 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  201 

riously  hollow  out  for  themselves  a  refuge  in  the  hardest 
bodies,  even  metals.  The  most  extraordinary  animal  of  this 
kind  that  is  known  is  a  powerful  hymenopterous  insect,  the 
Giant  Sirex,  the  larva  of  which,  during  the  expedition  to 
the  Crimea,  gnawed  the  balls  in  the  soldiers'  cartridges,  and 
bored  deep  holes  in  them  in  which  it  might  find  a  secure 
shelter.  Marshal  Vaillant  presented  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  several  balls  which  had  been  pierced  through  in 
this  way  by  these  insects. 

Several  of  these  metal-eaters  might  be  mentioned.  The 
larvae  of  a  Cetonia,  as  has  been  known  for  a  considerable 
time,  sometimes  pierce  the  lead  coverings  of  our  roofs ;  and 
a  piece  of  the  gutter  of  a  church,  which  presented  numer- 
ous perforations  produced  by  a  Callidia,  was  brought  to  me 
recently  at  the  museum  at  Rouen. 


CHAPTER   X. 

HYDRAULIC    ENGINEERS   AND   MASONS. 

THE  diving-bell  was  invented  by  a  little  spider ;  we  had 
nothing  to  do  but  imitate  it ;  the  copyist  has,  however,  not 
equalled  the  inventor.  In  fact,  the  insect  builds  below 
water,  beginning  and  finishing  its  task  there,  and  it  is  only 
when  its  work  is  completed  that  it  fills  the  structure  with 
vital  air. 

It  is  a  charming  little  house  of  silk,  which  suffices  for  all 
the  wants  of  its  occupant.  Here  it  passes  the  winter  and 
rears  its  young  ;  and  when  it  is  pressed  by  hunger,  the  bell 


202  THE   UNIVERSE. 

serves  as  a  lair,  from  which  the  bloodthirsty  little  creature 
watches  for  its  prey,  in  order  to  throw  itself  upon  it  as  it 
passes.  This  miniature  bell  adheres  to  the  adjoining  grass 
by  a  considerable  number  of  threads  ;  and  just  as  a  balloon 
is  held  back  by  numerous  cords  till  the  moment  arrives 
which  allows  it  to  soar  into  the  clouds,  so  do  these  threads 
prevent  the  accumulated  air  from  carrying  off  the  abode. 

These  little  spiders  swim  easily,  and  it  is  to  their  entirely 
aquatic  life  that  they  owe  their  name  of  naiads  (Naiadece), 
given  them  by  Walckenaer,  their  ingenious  historian.  A 
layer  of  air,  fixed  to  the  hair  of  their  bodies,  and  which 
gives  them  under  water  the  lustre  of  a  living  pearl,  materi- 
ally assists  their  power  of  swimming  by  lightening  them. 
It  is  by  means  of  this  that  they  succeed  in  filling  their  little 
bell  with  respirable  gas  so  soon  as  it  is  built.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  spider  comes  to  the  surface  of  the  stream,  takes  a 
bubble  of  air  under  its  abdomen,  and  carries  it  to  its  sub- 
merged refuge ;  and  it  repeats  these  voyages  till  the  bell  is 
completely  filled  with  air. 

Entomologists  are  acquainted  with  other  hydraulic  en- 
gineers also,  but  none  of  them  equal  in  intelligence  the 
naiads,  of  which  we  have  just  been  speaking. 

One  of  the  great  French  Coleoptera,  the  water-beetle  (Hy- 
drophihis  piceus],  whose  name  is  suggestive  of  its  aquatic 
habits,  also  builds  an  impermeable  silken  retreat  under  the 
water,  but  does  not  inhabit  it,  and  restricts  itself  to  intrust- 
ing its  progeny  to  it.  It  is  simply  a  shell  for  its  eggs. 

In  other  cases  insects  build  with  more  solid  materials. 
They  employ  mortar  and  paste,  and  are  masons,  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  term ;  but,  instead  of  working  in  the  fens,  set 


103.  Aquatic  Spider  and  its  Diving-Bell. 


•\ 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  205 

about  their  task  in  the  open  air,  on  elevated  monuments, 
or  near  the  tops  of  trees. 

The  Wall  Megachile  (Xylocopa,  Fabricius),  commonly 
called  the  mason-bee,  has  acquired  great  celebrity  from  its 
nests  built  of  small  stones  or  of  mortar  which  it  attaches  to 
houses.  They  are  in  the  shape  of  ovoid  cells,  each  capable 
of  containing  a  hazel-nut.  These  are  so  many  lodgings  to 
which  this  fly  intrusts  its  progeny.  When,  after  long  toil, 
the  miniature  monument  is  finished,  the  mother  places  one 
of  its  eggs  inside  it,  and  then  retreats  by  the  opening  left  in 
the  upper  part,  which  it  walls  up  hermetically  before  tak- 
ing wing. 

The  progeny  of  the  bee  thus  finds  itself  inclosed  alive  in 
a  tomb,  but  maternal  tenderness  here  displays  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  greatest  foresight.  Before  leaving,  the 
Megachile  lines  the  walls  with  a  fine  hanging  of  silk.  Thus 
the  larva  is  sheltered  from  the  night  cold,  and  has  not  to 
dread  contact  with  the  rough  walls  of  its  little  chamber. 
By  dint  of  laborious  journeys  the  mother  has  contrived  to 
amass  in  the  cradle  a  sufficient  quantity  of  food  for  its  little 
one.  And  when  it  incloses  it  in  its  cell  by  means  of  a  par- 
tition of  masonry,  it  knows  that  it  is  provided  writh  suffi- 
cient air  and  nourishment  to  support  it ;  and  that  when  the 
moment  comes  for  it  to  take  flight  it  will,  like  its  mother, 
be  in  possession  of  working  implements  to  break  down  the 
wall  within  which  it  is  imprisoned.1 

1  A  species  seen  in  England  (Ogmia  bicornis)  selects  as  the  material  for  its 
nest  banks  of  brown  clay,  which  it  moistens  with  saliva,  and  mou)ds  into  pellets 
as  large  as  peas.  It  is  supposed  that  a  bee  will  prepare  as  many  as  140  to  180  of 
these  pellets  in  a  day.  —  TR. 


206  THE    UNIVERSE. 

In  those  countries  where  the  mason-bees  are  very  rare, 
their  nests  are  isolated,  or  there  are  only  a  few  alongside 
of  each  other.  They  are  often  met  with  in  the  hollows  of 
stones  or  the  flu  tings  of  columns.  I  found  some  solitary  on 
different  monuments  in  Italy ;  they  were  adherent  to  pillars, 
and  constructed  of  little  stones  agglutinated  together  by  a 
very  fine  mortar.  They  were  extremely  solid. 

In  Egypt,  where  the  mason-bees  are  very  common,  we 
find  in  many  monuments  numerous  clusters  of  their  nests. 
The  roofs  of  some  of  the  ancient  subterranean  temples  are 
sometimes  entirely  covered  by  them.  They  are  so  heaped 
and  piled  up,  one  upon  another,  that  they  hang  from  the 
ceilings  like  the  stalactites  of  our  caverns.  But  these  nests 
are  not  built  with  little  stones;  in  imitation  of  the  fellahs  of 
Upper  Egypt,  the  mason-bee  constructs  its  abode  with  the 
mud  of  the  Nile. 

The  ceiling  of  an  apartment  in  a  temple  at  the  island  of 
Philse,  in  which  I  bivouacked  for  some  days,  was  completely 
hidden  from  view  by  these  nests  !  While  I  was  lying  down, 
I  saw  those  lizards  which  attach  themselves  so  adroitly  to 

the    slightest   asperities   on  the  walls 
running  about  in    the  midst  of  them 
with  surprising  activity.     These  were 
„         geckoes,  which  darted   on  the  young 

104.    Paper-Making    Wasps  :    < 

Vespa  niduians.  bees  as  they  issued  from  their  abodes, 

or  devoured  the  larvae  when  any  crack  or  opening  in  the 
nest  enabled  them  to  reach  them. 

But  if  any  insect  merit  the  palm  of  architecture,  it  must 
certainly  be  awarded  to  the  paper-making  wasp  ( Vespa 
niduians,  Fabricius).  It  builds  abodes  much  more  ingenious 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  207 

than  our  domestic  bee.  If  the  wax-cakes  of  the  latter  ex- 
hibit cavities  of  marvellous  regularity,  the  wasp  of  which 
we  speak  is  remarkable  for  the  general  arrangement  of  her 
building.  It  is  composed  of  regular  stages,  placed  one  above 
another  in  a  species  of  circular  tower.  Some  of  these 
houses  possess  as  many  as  fifteen  to  twenty  stages,  which 
all  communicate  with  each  other  by  means  of  a  hole  placed 


105.  Nest  of  the  Paper-Making  Wasp. 

in  the  centre  of  each.  The  cavities  which  shelter  the  ar- 
chitects are  placed  on  the  ceiling  of  each  compartment. 
The  entire  building  of  this  fly,  which  ordinarily  hangs  to  a 
tree,  is  composed  of  a  kind  of  brown  paste  exactly  like 
cardboard,  and  from  this  comes  the  name  by  which  it  is 
known.  But  we  are  totally  ignorant  of  the  source  from 
which  the  insect,  an  inhabitant  of  Cayenne,  draws  its  ma- 
terials. 


BOOK  IV. 


RA YAGERS  OF  FORESTS. 

UNDER  this  title  the  reader  naturally  expects  to  see  on 
the  stage  animals  the  size  of  which  must  be  in  proportion 
to  their  formidable  powers  of  destruction.  But  it  is  quite 
the  contrary.  It  is  not  the  auroch,  with  its  shaggy  mane, 
nor  the  powerful  stag,  nor  the  wild  boar,  that  ravages  or  de- 
stroys our  forests,  but  tiny  insects  which  cause  the  death  of 
its  aged  denizens. 

If,  when  the  warm  breath  of  spring  drives  away  the  rigor 
'of  winter  and  renews  life  in  the  fields,  we  enter  one  of  the 
great  coniferous  woods  of  Germany,  we  are  astonished  at 
the  tumult  and  activity  which  prevail  in  lieu  of  the  silence 
we  went  there  to  seek.  Everything  is  movement. 

Groups  of  woodmen,  foresters,  and  overseers  move  about 
by  hundreds,  and  stretch  away  like  columns  of  skirmishers ; 
it  is  a  complete  army  in  the  field,  which  opens  out  wherever 
there  is  a  large  space,  and  of  which  the  wings  are  some- 
times lost  in  the  windings  of  the  roads,  or  hidden  by  the 
projection  of  some  hillock.  This  mass  of  men  always  moves 
in  order,  distributed  in  troops  commanded  by  experienced 
leaders.  They  are  all  provided  with  long  weapons,  which 
at  a  distance  might  be  taken  for  lances. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  209 

Elsewhere,  again,  we  find  a  lengthy  train  of  pioneers 
regularly  posted,  and  vanishing  in  the  distance  ;  all,  an- 
imated with  feverish  activity,  are  digging  up  the  soil,  and 
making,  for  many  leagues,  long  trenches  of  circumvallation, 
which  follow  the  roads  and  serve  to  isolate  the  different  dis- 
tricts of  the  forest  from  one  another. 

Or  if  the  excursion  be  made  by  night,  another  spectacle 
awaits  us.  The  whole  forest  seems  on  fire.  In  every  part 
are  burning  great  trees,  erect  and  isolated,  like  huge  threat- 
ening torches,  the  flame  of  which  rises  to  the  clouds  and 
casts  a  baleful  glare  on  all  around.  A  few  foresters,  stand- 
ing in  silence,  contemplate  the  progress  of  the  conflagration 
and  watch  its  ravages.  Lastly,  at  other  times,  as  a  final  re- 
source, the  entire  forest  is  given  up  a  prey  to  the  flames, 
and  whirlwinds  of  fire,  menacing  and  dreadful,  spread  on 
every  side ;  a  woody  region,  lately  fertile,  is  entirely  de- 
voured by  fire,  and  only  an  immense  mountain  of  charcoal 
and  ashes  remains  of  all  this  mass  of  wealth. 

We  ask  against  what  formidable  enemy  such  an  army  of 
men  has  been  directed.  Whom  are  they  going  to  attack 
with  their  rods,  which  they  brandish  on  all  sides  ?  What 
redoubtable  aggressors  are  the  others  attempting  to  stay 
the  march  of,  by  means  of  the  long  trenches  they  are  dig- 
ging ?  Why  these  frightful  fires  in  the  middle  of  the  night  ? 
Why  this  general  conflagration  ? 

This  formidable  enemy  is  at  times  only  a  single  insect, 
but  it  threatens  everything  with  its  destructive  tooth,  and 
men  prefer  decimating  the  forest  to  losing  it  entirely. 

One  is  struck  dumb  with  amazement  at  seeing  so  many 
and  "so  vigorous  efforts  directed  solely  against  the  progeny 

14 


210  THE   UNIVERSE. 

of  a  simple  butterfly  ;  but  its  caterpillars  sometimes  multi- 
ply to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  necessary  to  exterminate 
them  utterly  in  order  to  preserve  the  forest  from  ruin.  In 
one  part  the  woodmen  and  their  families,  who  are  called 
out  en  masse,  are  occupied  in  crushing  these  destructive 
creatures  upon  the  trees.  In  another  the  others  are  cutting 
off  the  infected  districts  by  ditches,  in  order  to  check  the  in- 
vasion of  the  caterpillars,  which,  when  they  have  devoured 
everything  in  one  place,  proceed  in  immense  bands  to  in- 
vade the  healthy  localities. 

But  in  spite  of  so  much  labor,  man  is  sometimes  van- 
quished by  the  insect,  and  there  only  remains  one  last  re- 
source, —  that  of  setting  fire  to  the  forest  and  burning  the 
invaders. 

All  this  war  of  extermination,  of  which  we  have  just 
given  a  succinct  account,  is  directed  against  only  a  small 
number  of  our  enemies,  as  for  the  most  part  they  are  able 
to  keep  out  of  the  power  of  the  cultivator,  and  their  formi- 
dable army  defies  our  weakness. 

These  extensive  operations  are  undertaken  especially 
against  certain  night-moths,  for  it  is  among  the  simple 
moths  that  we  find  insects  which  are  to  be  classed  among 
the  most  destructive  ravagers  of  the  forests.  They  are  at- 
tacked in  their  three  different  phases.  Their  caterpillars 
are  crushed  as  they  climb  the  trees.  When,  after  devouring 
a  complete  section  of  the  wood,  they  pour  forth  in  serried 
columns  to  attack  a  sound  part,  they  fall  into  trenches  hol- 
lowed out  by  the  pioneers;  and  when  they  fill  these,  they 
are  stifled  in  a  heap  by  covering  them  over  with  earth. 
The  great  fires  lighted  at  night  are  directed  against  the 


106.  Pine  Bombyx  or  Phalsena  :  Phalcena  Bombyxpini  (Linnaeus).     Lurva,  Cocoons,  and 
Butterfly.    From  Katzeburg. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  213 

moths  themselves.  The  glare  attracts  them,  and  they  are 
soon  scorched  by  the  flame  in  consequence  of  going  too 
near  it. 

The  Pine  Bombyx  enjoys  the  evil  prerogative  of  being 
placed  in  the  front  rank  of  the  enemies  of  our  forests.  Of 
all  insects  it  is  the  most  injurious  to  the  tree  of  which  it 
bears  the  name.  It  especially  attacks  wood  of  from  sixty  to 
eighty  years  old,  and  many  examples  are  known  of  forests 
at  this  age  being  totally  destroyed  by  these  caterpillars, 
which  the  German  wood-growers  call  "  pine  spinners/'  on 
account  of  the  numerous  cocoons  with  which  they  cover 
the  leaves  of  this  tree. 

The  foresters  equally  dread  another  moth,  commonly 
called  the  monk  or  nun,  on  account  of  its  robe  being  laced 
with  black  and  white,  like  that  of  certain  devotees.  It  is 
all  the  more  fatal  because  its  caterpillar  attacks  not  only 
the  coniferous  forests,  but  in  addition  all  forest  trees,  such 
as  the  birch,  oak,  beech,  etc.  The  perfect  insects  are  met 
with  in  autumn,  and  sometimes  in  such  abundance  that  at  a 
distance  one  might  take  them  for  snow-flakes  drifting  about. 
The  regular  exterminations  of  which  we  have  previously 
spoken  are  also  directed  against  this  insect. 

Among  those  insects  the  progeny  of  which  devastates  our 
woods,  we  should  mention  also  the  Pine-Eating  Phalsena. 
Its  caterpillars,  which  sometimes  multiply  to  an  extraor- 
dinary extent,  make  great  havoc  in  the  pine  forests.  They 
are  particularly  to  be  dreaded,  because  they  show  them- 
selves very  early,  and  devour  the  young  shoots.  The  same 
means  are  taken  to  stop  their  ravages  as  with  the  others ; 
their  invasion  is  checked  by  trenches,  and  in  some  places 


214 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


by  herds  of  pigs,  which  eat  them  in  heaps.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  pigs  are  led  to  the  forests  towards  the  month  of 
August,  a-  time  at  which  they  seize  the  caterpillars  as  they 


107.  Pine-Eating  Phalaena  (Phalcena  Bombyx  pinn'ora),  the  progeny  of  which  devastates  for- 
ests.    Ratzeburg. 

descend  from  the  trees  in  order  to   hibernate    under  the 
moss  or  earth. 

Other  insects,  in  lieu  of  attacking  stems  or  leaves,  attach 
themselves  to  the  buds.    One  of  them  produces  great  havoc 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  215 

by  gnawing  those  of  the  pine.  Its  caterpillar,  which  is  very 
small,  being  introduced  beneath  the  scales  of  the  bud? 
gnaws  a  part  of  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  stalk,  warped  at 
the  very  core,  loses  its  straightness,  twists,  and  becomes  de- 
formed. We  can  see  from  a  distance  when  these  artisans 
have  assailed  a  part  of  a  wood,  by  the  strange  aspect  which 
the  tops  of  the  trees  present.  All  the  terminal  buds  are 
more  or  less  bent  and  contorted,  instead  of  possessing  their 
normal  direction.  It  is  to  this  result  that  the  species  owes 
its  name  of  pine-twister,  by  which  the  foresters  generally 
designate  it. 

Some  destroyers,  instead  of  this  openly  declared  war, 
carry  on  their  assaults  silently  and  in  the  shade  ;  these  are 
concealed  enemies,  which  nothing  can  track  out,  and  we 
have  frequently  no  suspicion  of  their  presence  till  they 
have  slain  their  victim.  Some  live  on  wood,  and  hollow  out 
ample  tortuous  galleries  in  it,  which  very  speedily  modify 
the  organism  of  the  tree  so  profoundly  that  the  strongest 
succumb  to  it.  Others  work  between  the  bark  and  the  sap- 
wood,  using  up  materials  that  offer  less  resistance  to  their 
teeth. 

In  the  former  category  must  be  placed  the  Cossi,  those 
skilful  carpenters  of  which  we  have  already  made  mention. 
In  the  second  category  may  be  ranked  the  numerous  legion 
of  insects  which  ornament  the  surface  of  wood  in  a  deplora- 
ble manner  with  chisellings  that  roughly  resemble  printing, 
writing  with  chalk,  or  in  short-hand.  Each  species  in- 
variably draws  the  same  design,  so  that  we  can  always  dis- 
cover who  our  enemy  is  by  his  work,  without  seeing  him. 

Almost  all  these  laborers  are  beetles  of  very  small  size, 


216  THE   UNIVERSE. 

belonging  to  the  genera  Bostrichus  and  Hylesinus.  Their 
teeth,  with  deadly  quickness,  cut  numerous  galleries  be- 
tween the  wood  and  the  bark,  so  that  both  portions  of  the 
tree  are  assailed  at  the  same  time.  These  tiny  ravagers  are 


108.  Nuptial  Chamber  of  the  Pine  Hylesinus,  of  natural  size,  and  the  Insect  enlarged. 

often  not  more  than  about  the  sixth  of  an  inch  long,  and 
hence,  as  their  bodies  are  slender  in  proportion,  they  only 
require  a  very  narrow  trench  to  promenade  in  at  their  ease. 
Nevertheless,  as  each  insect  reproduces  its  species  very 
rapidly,  the  number  of  galleries  hollowed  out  by  a  single 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  217 

family  sometimes  covers  a  large  part  of  the  surface  of  a 
tree,  and  if  the  species  multiplies  round  about  it  the  result 
of  its  work  is  to  detach  the  entire  bark,  which  falls  to  dust. 
The  attentive  observations  of  foresters  have  shown  that 
nearly  always  a  pair  of  typographer  beetles  enter  the  tree 
together  by  perforating  the  bark,  and  this  first  task  accom- 
plished they  hollow  out  at  this  spot  a  central  gallery,  which 


109.  Cone  Pyralis :  Tortrix  Strobiliana.   Caterpillar  and  Butterfly,  enlarged  and  of 

natural  size. 
Section  of  Fir  Cone  to  display  the  work  of  the  Caterpillar. 

is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  nuptial  chamber  for  the  pair. 
Here,  resolved  to  make  their  lives  as  agreeable  as  possible, 
they  pierce,  for  this  purpose,  two  to  four  holes  in  the  bark, 
which  are  simply  ventilators,  intended  to  air  the  little 
chamber,  and  possibly  also  to  light  the  windings.  The 
female  lays  her  eggs  all  along  the  chamber,  producing  from 


218  THE   UNIVERSE. 

fifty  to  a  hundred.  After  having  left  the  egg,  the  young 
larvae,  in  order  to  nourish  themselves,  excavate  all  the  little 
galleries  which  branch  out  from  the  whole  length  of  the 
central  gallery.  It  is  towards  the  extremity  of  these  that 
they  undergo  their  metamorphosis,  arid  when  their  arrival 
at  the  state  of  the  perfect  insect  takes  place,  and  the  desire 
to  breathe  the  pure  air  comes  upon  them,  they  bore  through 
the  bark,  and  scatter  themselves  abroad. 

Of  all  these  wood-cutters,  the  Typographer  Bostrichus  is 
regarded  by  M.  Ratzeburg  as  the  most  dangerous.  He  says 
that  it  ravages  the  forests  of  fir-trees  in  such  a  manner 
that  often  not  a  single  tree  escapes  its  attacks.  It  is  doubt- 
less in  order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  its  depreda- 
tions that  this  naturalist  has  bestowed  on  such  a  little  insect 
the  alarming  name  of  the  "  great  pine-gnawer."  Next  to 
it  must  also  be  placed  the  Curved-Tooth  Bostrichus  and  the 
Pine  Hylesinus,  which  are  almost  identical  with  it  in  their 
habits. 

Each  organ  has  its  enemy.  That  our  apples  and  plums 
are  gnawed  and  injured  by  worms  is  no  wonder,  as  their 
soft  tissue  admits  of  such  mischief  being  done  with  the 
greatest  ease  ;  but  fruits  so  hard  and  well  protected  as  those 
of  the  Coniferae  would  seem  as  if  they  ought  to  be  safe  from 
such  attacks.  This,  however,  is  certainly  not  the  case. 
The  progeny  of  certain  very  small  butterflies,  that  of  the 
Cone  Pyralis  in  particular,  delight  in  gnawing  and  destroy- 
ing the  strong  scales  of  these  cones.  They  hollow  out  gal- 
leries in  their  axis,  and  from  thence  spread  out  between 
the  scales. 


BOOK  V. 


PROTECTORS  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

ALONG  with  these  innumerable  legions  of  enemies,  the 
devouring. fangs  of  which,  ever  active,  injure  or  even  ruin 
agriculture,  there  has  been  created  a  valiant  army,  which 
alone  is  capable  of  checking  their  ravages.  But  too  often 
man,  unthinkingly  or  through  ignorance,  destroys  these 
auxiliaries  sent  by  Providence,  and  only  seeks  to  recall  them 
when  he  has  exterminated  them.  To-day  he  sets  a  price 
upon  their  heads ;  to-morrow  he  would  buy  them  back  at 
their  weight  in  gold. 

All  the  pleasant  guests  of  our  groves  have  been  alter- 
nately thus  treated.  The  titmouse,  the  black-cap,  the  night- 
ingale, the  blackbird,  and  many  others  destroy  swarms  of 
all  these  caterpillars  that  ruin  us,  and  they  are  more  skil- 
ful than  we  are  in  discovering  the  hidden  retreats  of  these 
pests.  Among  our  auxiliaries  we  should  have  to  name 
nearly  all  the  small  birds  in  our  woods.  And  yet  how 
often  has  the  weapon  of  the  sportsman  destroyed  these 
charming  and  active  workers  !  It  is  only  quite  lately  that 
we  have  checked  his  ravages  and  protected  their  broods. 

If  some  destructive  insects  eat  our  crops,  their  natural 


220  THE   UNIVERSE. 

exterminators  again  are  found  among  the  carnivorous  mam- 
mals and  birds. 

At  the  head  of  these  protectors  of  agriculture  must  be 
placed,  at  the  present  day,  the  mole,  the  habits  of  which 
have  been  for  a  long  time  misunderstood. 

Far  from  being  hurtful  to  the  products  of  the  earth,  it  is 
one  of  their  most  effective  guardians ;  occupied  from  morn 


110.   Common  European  Mole  :  Talpa  Europcea  (Linnaeus). 

to  night  in  devouring  all  the  enemies  of  their  roots,  it  never 
attacks  a  root  itself. 

The  food  of  the  mole  is  composed  of  cockchafer  grubs, 
of  mole-crickets,  and  insects  of  all  kinds.  A  naturalist  has 
calculated  that  a  mole  devours  annually  20,000  grubs.  But 
the  animal  on  which  it  declares  war  most  savagely  of  all  is 
the  earth-worm.  It  is  so  voracious  that  it  must  eat  every 
six  hours.  No  animal  is  so  favored  in  its  carnivorous  in- 
stincts as  the  mole ;  forty-four  teeth,  studded  with  points, 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  221 

never  cease  working  from  morning  to  night.  It  requires 
nourishment  to  such  an  extent  that  if  deprived  of  food  for 
a  day  it  dies  of  inanition.  It  is  a  perfect  eating  machine, 
gulping  down  every  day  an  enormous  quantity  of  food,  so 
that  M.  De  la  Blanchere  was  right  in  saying  that  "  if  we 
could  magnify  the  mole  to  the  size  of  the  elephant  we 
should  be  face  to  face  with  the  most  terrific  brute  the  world 
ever  brought  forth."  l 

Had  the  fact  not  been  attested  by  a  savant  like  E.  Geof- 
froy  Saint-Hilaire,  no  one  would  believe  that  the  mole, 
an  underground  animal  par  excellence,  though  buried  be- 
neath the  soil,  nevertheless  catches  birds  in  order  to  devour 
them,  The  crafty  mammal  executes  this  bird-catching  ma- 
noeuvre by  moving  its  muzzle  slightly  on  the  surface  of 
its  mole-hill.  The  bird  thinks  it  is  a  little  worm  stirring, 
and  swoops  down  to  seize  it,  but  finds  only  the  hungry  gul- 
let of  the  earth-digger,  which  engulfs  it  in  an  instant. 

The  structure  of  the  workman  is  wonderfully  adapted  to 
its  kind  of  life ;  its  fore-limbs  present  two  broad  cutting 
shovels  moved  by  a  muscular  apparatus  so  powerful  that  it 
alone  weighs  almost  as  much  as  the  rest  of  the  body.  Its 
muzzle,  a  movable  snout,  first  pierces  the  soil,  and  its  paws 
clear  the  earth  away  in  proportion  as  it  is  loosened.  Aided 
by  such  organs,  the  mole  cuts  out  its  underground  tunnels 
with  prodigious  velocity ;  it  is  a  living  auger,  a  perfect 
earth-borer. 

1  In  Switzerland  M.  Weber  experimented  upon  two  moles.  Such  was  their 
voracity  that  in  nine  days  they  had  eaten  341  white- worms,  193  earth-worms,  25 
caterpillars,  and  a  mouse,  both  the  bones  and  skin  of  which  they  swallowed. 
When  he  restricted  them  to  a  vegetable  diet,  they  died  of  hunger.  Messrs- 
Duges  and  Flourens  have  proved  that  they  perish  if  kept  for  a  day  without 
food. 


222  THE   UNIVERSE. 

This  animal  devours  its  prey  with  such  voracity  that  when 
this  is  of  some  size,  as  a  rat  or  bird  for  instance,  the  mole 
penetrates  in  some  sort  into  the  entrails  of  it,  the  head  and 
fore-feet  being  so  thrust  in  that  one  cannot  see  them.  The 
carnivorous  animal  bores  its  victim  as  if  it  were  boring  the 
earth. 

The  mole  never  gnaws  roots ;  I  have  opened  hundreds 
without  finding  one  in  their  stomachs,  which,  on  the  con- 
trary, were  always  gorged  with  grubs  of  the  May-bug  and 
earth-worms.  This  insect-eater  is  therefore  one  of  our  best 
friends ;  this  is  well  known  where  agriculture  is  intrusted 
to  experienced  hands.  In  such  places,  and  in  some  vine- 
yards devastated  by  the  above-mentioned  grubs,  men  buy 
moles  in  order  to  consign  to  them  the  destruction  of  these 
formidable  enemies.1 

1  All  those  authors  who  have  recently  written  upon  agriculture,  or  have  inter- 
ested themselves  about  the  mole,  such  as  Ratzeburg,  Joigneaux,  and  De  la  Blan- 
chere,  consider  this  animal  as  of  great  service  to  farm  husbandry.  Ratzeburg, 
Hylopkthires ;  Joigneaux,  Le  Livre  de  la  Ferme,  1866;  De  la  Blanchere,  Les 
Trots  Regnes  de  la  Nature,  1866  ;  "  La  Taupe,"  p.  134.  Many  more  errors  than 
we  have  mentioned  have  been  circulated  about  the  mole.  Aristotle  and  all  those 
who  copied  from  him,  not  being  able  to  perceive  its  eyes,  believed  that  it  cannot 
see.  Its  eyes,  deeply  hidden  by  hairs,  are,  it  is  true,  unsuited  for  good  vision, 
but  it  is  evident  that  the  mole  can  see  with  them.  Le  Court,  the  chief  of  the 
mole-catchers  in  France,  even  says  that  he  has  seen  it  swim  across  rivers,  guided 
only  by  its  sight. 

The  existence  of  the  mole  is  a  series  of  paradoxes.  The  cleanliness  of  its  fur, 
for  instance,  is  wonderful ;  though  it  is  always  buried  in  the  earth  or  the  mud 
which  invades  its  subterranean  dwelling,  yet,  when  we  withdraw  it,  its  coat  is 
beautifully  fresh,  unsoiled  with  spot  or  dust.  This  silky  robe  has  often  tempted 
those  in  search  of  new  frivolities.  Some  ladies  of  the  court  of  Louis  XV.,  having 
a  fancy  to  match  it  with  the  patches,  rouge,  and  paint  with  which  they  covered 
their  faces,  conceived  the  whim  of  having  eyebrows  of  it;  whilst  the  courtiers  of 
this  prince  collected  masses  of  moleskin  to  have  their  dresses  made  of  them.  But 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


223 


Another  very  useful  mammal,  respecting  which  men  have 
been  as  much  deceived  as  about  the  other,  is  the  hedgehog. 

The  hedgehog,  represented  everywhere  as  a  pilferer  of 
our  orchards,  carrying  off  apples  and  pears  on  its  spines  to 
eat  them  in  its  retreat,  on  the  contrary  never  touches  any 
fruit.  It  is  an  active  flesh-eater,  wThich  only  feeds  on 
worms,  snails,  and  rodent  animals  injurious  to  our  dwell- 


Flesh-Eating  Coleoptera  of  the  family  Carabidae. 
111.  Calosoma  sycophanta.  112.  Anthia  duodecimpunctata.  113.  Carabus  gryphceus. 

ings.  Far  from  devastating  our  gardens,  it  protects  them. 
This  is  well  known  in  some  countries,  —  Astrachan,  for  in- 
stance, where  it  is  substituted  for  the  cat  in  the  town 
houses. 

To  these  auxiliaries  of  notable  activity  must  be  added  an 
ample  host  of  smaller  ones  ;  the  work  of  which,  however, 
when  multiplied  by  numbers,  amounts  to  a  large  figure. 
They  are  found  as  a  providential  compensation  in  that  class 

all  they  got  was  a  dress  of  a  costly  kind  and  of  a  very  disagreeable  smell,  so  that 
the  fashion  soon  died  out. 


224 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


of  insects  which  causes  us  such  damage.  These  benefactors 
—  lost,  unrecognized  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy — belong 
principally  to  the  ravenous-jawed  Carabidae  family  ; l  they 
are  in  especial  the  Calosomae,  the  Cicindelae,  and  the  Carabi, 
all  gleaming  with  purple  and  gold,  which,  full  of  valor, 
courageously  throw  themselves  upon  all  insects  that  pass 
within  reach.  In  another  place  we  find  the  insidious  Sea- 
rites  concealed  in  their  underground  dwellings,  and  entrap- 
ping their  prey  as  it  passes. 


I 


114.  Giant  Scarites  (Scarites  Icevigatus)  in  its  Lurking- Place. 

1  Thousands  of  insects  called  Cardbidce,  varying  greatly  in  size,  from  half  a  line 
to  an  inch  in  length,  may  be  found  under  stones  and  clods  in  fields,  meadows, 
and  gardens,  where  they  secrete  themselves  by  day,  and  sally  forth  at  night  to  feed 
upon  other  insects,  worms,  larvae,  etc.,  which  come  to  the  surface  at  that  period, 
either  to  feed  or  to  migrate  ;  they  are  consequently  eminently  serviceable  in  re- 
ducing the  ranks  of  noxious  animals.  During  a  drought  they  retire  into  cracks 
in  the  earth  and  to  the  most  humid  spots,  and  evidently  enjoy  the  refreshing  rains 
which  succeed.  I  have  seen  the  large  Carabus  glabratm  in  mountainous  districts 
running  about  immediately  after  a  thunder-storm,  each  having  a  tolerably  large 
earth-worm  in  its  mouth  ;  others,  as  the  splendid  Calosoma  sycophanta,  live  en- 
tirely upon  caterpillars  in  trees;  and  there  is  one  which  well  deserves  notice  from 
its  feeding  upon  the  wire-worms.  It  is  called  Steropus  madidus,  from  its  inhabit- 
ing wet  and  damp  localities.  It  is  a  very  active  insect;  it  prowls  about  at  night, 
and  is  admirably  adapted  to  its  predacious  mode  of  life.  —  Farm  Insects,  by  John 
Curtis,  F.  L.  S. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  225 

Instead  of  pitilessly  destroying  these  beneficent  Coleop- 
tera,  as  is  generally  done  when  we  see  them  in  our  gardens 
and  fields,  one  ought  to  protect  them ;  for  they  devour  en 
masse  the  caterpillars  which  ruin  them. 

15 


BOOK  VI. 


THE  ARCHITECTURE   OF  BIRDS. 

THE  extreme  diversity  in  the  works  constructed  by  birds 
has  excited  the  admiration  of  every  one.  These  animals 
vary  to  infinity  the  forms,  style,  and  materials  which  they 
employ.  It  is  therefore  possible  to  divide  them  into  as 
many  classes  as  there  are  kinds  of  work.  Some  are  car- 
penters ;  others  weave  ;  some  build  ;  and  we  find  among 
them  navvies,  masons,  and  miners ;  blacksmiths  alone  are 
wanting. 

Alongside  of  our  gigantic  monuments,  such  as  St.  Peter's 
at  Rome  and  the  pyramids  of  the  Pharaohs,  the  nest  of  the 
bird  is  only  a  point  in  space  ;  but  the  work  suddenly  ex- 
pands before  our  eyes  when  we  compare  the  weakness  of 
the  workman  with  the  magnitude  of  his  task  ;  for  some  of 
our  aerial  architects,  in  order  to  build  their  dwellings,  amass 
more  earth,  in  proportion,  in  one  season  than  a  man  would 
heap  up  in  his  whole  life. 

Their  nests  lend  animation  to  every  part  of  the  world. 
Some,  like  the  eagle  and  vulture,  only  build  them  on  the 
shattered  mountain  tops,  on  the  naked  and  arid  rocks; 
others,  more  delicate,  such  as  some  of  the  humming-birds, 
let  them  wave  at  the  will  of  the  zephyr,  and  content  them- 


115.  Nest  of  the  Common  Magpie  :   Corvus  pica  (Linnaeus). 
From  the  Rouen  Museum. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


229 


selves  with  suspending  them  at  the  end  of  a  palm-tree  leaf 
which  just  touches  a  sheet  of  water.  Some  birds  only  build 
in  the  depth  of  caverns,  or  in  the  midst  of  ruins  never 
trodden  by  the  foot  of  man  ;  to  escape  all  notice  is  with 


116.  The  King  Penguin:  Aptenodytes  Patagonica  (Gmelin). 

them  an  .imperious  necessity.  On  the  contrary,  there  are 
some  which  like  to  be  near  us.  Quite  assured  of  the  affec- 
tion we  feel  for  them,  and  full  of  confidence,  they  enter  our 
dwellings  as  if  they  belonged  to  the  household,  and  in  spite 
of  the  noise  and  uproar  about  them  sleep  peacefully  in  the 
cradle  they  have  hung  there. 

The  swallows  seem  to  know  instinctively  that  no  person 


230  THE    UNIVERSE. 

would  dare  to  do  them  harm.  Almost  all  the  other  species 
flee  us ;  they  alone  install  themselves  securely  near  us : 
they  are  our  guests. 

A  chimney-swallow,  the  nest  of  which  is  preserved  in  the 
Kouen  Museum,  built  its  nest  in  the  centre  of  a  foundry  be- 
longing to  an  esteemed  friend  of  mine,  in  the  vault  of  a 
forge  in  full  work,  without  being  alarmed  either  at  the 
fierceness  of  the  fire,  the  torrents  of  smoke,  or  the  continual 
clang  of  the  hammers. 

In  the  bird  maternal  love  becomes  ingenious  in  the 
highest  degree.  Although  the  quail  and  the  partridge, 
like  too  confident  mothers,  deposit  their  young  uncovered 
on  the  ground,  and  expose  them  to  the  rapacity  of  every 
carnivorous  animal  that  passes,  other  species  take  infinite 
precautions  to  defend  them.  The  king-fisher  hollows  out  a 
deep  and  winding  underground  passage  to  shelter  its  young. 
The  magpie,  to  protect  its  little  ones,  constructs  a  regular 
casemated  citadel,  into  which  it  enters,  and  from  which  it 
issues  merely  by  a  narrow  passage ;  only  that,  in  lieu  of 
wood  work  and  earth,  the  nest  is  covered  with  closely  in- 
terlaced branches,  which  also  defend  it  against  the  eagles 
and  falcons,  the  brigands  of  the  air. 

Among  the  different  tribes  of  the  air,  only  one  species,  a 
singular  one  in  all  respects,  almost  as  much  fish  as  bird, 
evades  the  general  law,  and  does  not  commit  its  offspring 
to  any  kind  of  nest ;  it  is  the  Patagonian  penguin,  which 
lives  amid  ice,  rocks,  and  waves,  and  of  which  the  wings 
are  quite  unfitted  for  flying.  But  we  must  admit  that  the 
love  displayed  by  the  parents  for  their  brood  makes  one  at 
once  forgive  their  idleness  and  stupidity. 


117.  Moa,  or  Gigantic  Dinornis  (D.  yiganteus)  restored;  and  APTEHYX  (A.  Ufantelli). 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  233 

Like  the  kangaroos,  those  mammals  of  Australia  which 
conceal  their  little  ones  in  a  ventral  sack,  the  female  pen- 
guin constantly  carries  her  solitary  egg  in  a  pouch  formed 
by  a  fold  of  the  skin  of  the  abdomen,  and  it  is  held  so  fast 
in  this  that  she  leaps  or  sometimes  rolls  from  rock  to  rock 
without  letting  it  fall.  It  is  well  for  her  she  does  so,  for 
should  such  a  mishap  befall  her,  the  male  bird  chastises  her 
without  pity.  This  egg  is  even  concealed  with  so  much 
care  by  the  mother  that,  to  get  possession  of  it,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  engage  in  a  regular  battle  with  her.  The  male  also 
mixes  himself  up  in  the  affair ;  at  his  mate's  call  of  anger 
he  rushes  to  the  spot,  and  throws  himself  upon  the  ravisher 
with  a  fury  which  only  ceases  when  he  sinks  under  his  as- 
sailant's club. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GIANTS    AND    PIGMIES. 

NATURE  presents  everywhere  the  most  opposite  extremes. 
Birds  have  also  their  pigmies  and  their  giants,  their  idlers 
and  indefatigable  workers.  Their  habits  display,  side  by 
side,  imbecility  and  intelligence,  solitude  and  family  life. 

Often  in  the  tropical  regions,  where  the  sun  darts  his 
fiercest  rays,  we  may  see  flitting  over  the  flowers  brilliant 
birds,  which  sweep  rapidly  past  like  a  spark  of  topaz  or 
ruby  ;  these  are  the  humming-birds,  living  diamonds,  slighter 
than  some  insects,  and  which  often  become  the  prey  of 
huge  spiders. 

The  giant  of  this  group  scarcely  attains  the  size  of  a 


234  THE    UNIVERSE. 

sparrow,  and  the  smallest  hardly  surpasses  in  size  a  humble- 
bee.  Hence,  to  the  humming-birds,  as  they  are  commonly 
called,  each  speck  of  creation  is  a  world.  A  simple  leaf 
suffices  for  the  gambols  of  a  whole  family ;  a  flower  is  the 
perfumed  throne  on  which  the  nuptials  are  accomplished, 
and  the  petals  of  its  corolla  spread  out  to  form  a  velvet 
canopy  which  hides  their  chaste  loves. 

Were  we  to  compare  the  size  of  different  birds,  we  should 
arrive  at  wonderful  results.  Lacepede,  who  doubtless  could 
not  boast  of  being  as  exact  as  Archimedes,  calculated  that 
it  would  require  a  thousand  millions  of  shrew-mice  to  equal 
a  whale  in  weight.  If  that  were  true,  we  should  also  have 
to  pile  up  some  millions  of  humming-birds  to  weigh  against 
the  heavy  ostrich. 

We  have  just  spoken  of  the  ostrich,  but  it  again  is  only  a 
bird  of  insignificant  size  compared  with  two  ornithological 
marvels,  the  recent  discovery  of  which  we  owe  to  the  illus- 
trious zoologists  Professor  Owen  and  Isidore  Geoffroy  Saint- 
Hilaire. 

One  of  them,  the  gigantic  Dinornis  of  New  Zealand,  a 
part  of  the  skeleton  of  which  is  in  the  Museum  of  the  Lon- 
don College  of  Surgeons,  was  eighteen  feet  high.  The  bone 
of  a  man's  leg  is  only  a  slender  spindle  compared  to  that  of 
this  colossal  bird. 

The  disappearance  of  this  huge  bird  dates  from  no  very 
distant  epoch,  and  everything  attests  that  the  first  inhab- 
itants of  New  Zealand  were  perfectly  acquainted  with  it. 
The  ancient  legends  of  the  island  tell  us  that  at  the  time 
of  its  discovery  it  was  full  of  birds  of  appalling  size.  There 
are  also  ancient  poems  there,  in  which  the  father  teaches 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  235 

his  son  how  to  hunt  the  Moa,  the  name  belonging  of  old  to 
this  species ;  in  these  are  described  the  ceremonies  which 
took  place  when  one  had  been  killed.  They  feasted  on  the 
flesh  and  eggs,  while  the  feathers  served  to  adorn  the  arms 
of  the  vanquishers.  Some  hills  are  yet  strewed  with  the 
bones  of  the  Dinornis,  the  remains  of  these  great  feasts  of 
the  hunters. 

Another  colossal  bird,  the  Epiornis,  which  formerly  lived 
in  Madagascar,  must  have  been  of  even  greater  size.  One 
of  its  eggs,  which  is  now  in  the  museum  at  Paris,  is  six 
times  as  large  as  that  of  the  ostrich,  and  it  has  been  calcu- 
lated that  to  fill  the  cavity  would  require  12,000  humming- 
birds' eggs.  Its  shell,  about  two  twenty-fifths  of  an  inch 
thick,  could  only  be  broken  by  a  blow  with  a  hammer. 
What  strength,  then,  must  the  beak  of  the  young  bird  have 
possessed  to  be  able  to  make  a  hole  in  it ! 

What  differences,  also,  in  strength  are  found  in  birds ! 

When  fleeing  before  the  hunter,  whose  Arab  steed  comes 
ever  closer  and  closer,  the  alarmed  and  furious  ostrich 
presses  its  toes  into  the  ground,  and  tears  up  the  soil  of  the 
desert,  leaving  deep  marks  beneath  each  footstep,  while  it 
launches  afar  behind  it  a  cloud  of  sand  and  pebbles.  When, 
on  the  contrary,  a  flock  of  humming-birds,  attracted  by  the 
expanded  and  floating  flowers  of  the  Victoria  Regia,  play 
and  gleam  round  them  like  a  casket  of  topazes  and  rubies 
struck  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  neither  the  smooth  surface 
of  the  lake  nor  the  beautiful  flowers  are  in  the  least  de- 
gree disturbed.  And  when  one  of  these  winged  diamonds 
perches  itself  upon  a  petal  of  their  virgin  corolla,  it  does 
not  even  stir  it.  Again,  when  the  fragile  bird  takes  flight, 


236 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


its  tiny  claw  has  not  injured  the  velvet  softness  of  the 
Hower.  It  might  have  lighted  upon  one  of  the  twigs  of  the 
modest  sensitive-plant  without  this  taking  any  alarm. 

The  secretary-bird,  on  the  contrary,  —  a  powerful  bird  of 
prey  belonging  to  Africa,  incessantly  occupied  in  combating 
reptiles,  —  with  one  blow  of  its  wing  stuns  a  tortoise  or  a 
threatening  serpent.  The  swan,  with  the  same  member, 


118.  Comparative  Dimensions  of  Birds'  Eggs.     1.  That  of  the  Epiornis.    2.  Of  the 
Ostrich.    3.  Of  the  Hen.     4.  Of  the  Humming-Bird. 

can  break  a  man's  leg,  or,  as  has  been  sometimes  seen,  dash 
him  headlong  into  the  water.  The  bearded  vulture  (Gy- 
paetus  barbatus),  some  zoologists  tell  us,  attacks  the  hunters 
unawares  in  the  dangerous  passes  of  the  Alps,  and  occasion- 
ally gives  them  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  And  the  eagle,  in 
its  bold  flight,  carries  children  through  the  fields  of  air,  and 
crushes  them  in  the  mountain  precipices.1 

1  An  instance  of  this  kind  took  place  in  the  Valais  in  1838.  A  little  girl,  five 
years  old,  called  Marie  Delex,  was  playing  with  one  of  her  companions  on  a 
mossy  slope  of  the  mountain,  when  all  at  once  an  eagle  swooped  down  upon  her, 
and  carried  her  away  in  spite  of  the  cries  and  presence  of  her  young  friend. 
Some  peasants,  hearing  the  screams,  hastened  to  the  spot,  but  sought  in  vain  for 


119,    Nest  of  the  Saw-Beaked  Humraing-Bird :  Petasophora  serrirostris.    From  Gould. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  239 

If  we  examine  the  form  which  our  winged  architects  give 
to  their  nuptial  couches,  or  the  materials  of  which  they 
build  them,  we  see  that  they  vary  infinitely.  Some  birds, 
like  the  eagles  and  goshawks,  which  build  their  eyries  in 
the  midst  of  solitude  and  rocks,  only  employ  in  their  con- 
struction rough  fragments  of  stick  heaped  up  in  disorder ; 
others  make  use  of  leaves  and  moss,  which  they  arrange 
with  skill.  But  such  materials  are  still  too  coarse  for  the 
delicate  bodies  of  the  sparkling  army  of  humming-birds. 
They,  as,  for  example,  the  saw-beaked  humming-bird,  often 
construct  for  themselves  a  charming  little  downy  cup  of 
cotton,  wherein  to  shelter  their  emeralds  without  sullying 
the  lustre  of  them.  Other  species  of  the  same  group, 
which  also  make  use  of  soft  pillows,  garnish  the  outside  of 
their  nests  with  fragments  of  lichens,  doubtless  to  hide  it 
better  from  the  animals  of  prey  that  live  in  the  midst  of 
the  foliage.  This  is  the  case  with  the  mango  humming- 
bird, —  the  black  plastron  humming-bird  of  Buff  on. 

the  child,  for  they  found  nothing  but  one  of  her  shoes  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice. 
The  child,  however,  was  not  carried  to  the  eagle's  nest,  where  only  two  eaglets 
were  seen,  surrounded  by  heaps  of  goat  and  sheep  bones.  It  was  not  till  two 
months  after  this  that  a  shepherd  discovered  the  corpse  of  Marie  Delex,  fright- 
fully mutilated,  and  lying  upon  a  rock  half  a  league  frona  where  she  had  been 
borne  off. 


240  THE   UNIVERSE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   INSTINCT    OF    CHEMISTRY. — MOUNTAIN   BUILDERS    AND 

GLEANERS. 

SOME  birds  attract  attention  by  the  size  of  their  construc- 
tions, and  by  the  innate  notions  which  they  seem  to  have  of 
certain  chemical  phenomena  which  we  see  them  make  ex- 
actly the  right  use  of. 

An  earthen  mound  in  an  English  garden  astonishes  us 
by  its  dimensions,  and  the  labor  which  it  demands.  Many 
hands  and  much  time  have  been  occupied  with  it,  and  yet, 
if  we  compare  the  work  with  the  means  of  him  who  orders 
it  to  be  formed,  this  mass  of  earth  seems  but  a  small  mat- 
ter. A  bird,  the  Mound-Building  Megapodius,  accomplishes 
by  itself  a  task  a  thousand  times  greater. 

It  has  the  carriage  and  size  of  a  partridge,  and  its  modest 
brown  robe  recalls  the  sombre  colors  of  almost  all  the  birds 
of  its  country,  Australia,  that  land  of  zoological  marvels, 
but  its  labors  and  its  intelligence  soon  make  us  forget  the 
inat tractive  aspect  of  the  workman. 

The  nidification  of  this  species  is  a  truly  herculean  work, 
and  one  would  not  credit  it  were  it  not  attested  by  the  most 
authentic  evidence. 

The  immense  structure  built  by  the  Megapodius  rests  on 
the  ground.  The  bird  begins  by  getting  together  a  thick 
bed  of  leaves,  branches,  and  plants ;  then  it  heaps  up  earth 
and  stones,  and  strews  them  round  about  in  such  a  way  as 
to  form  an  enormous  crater-like  tumulus,  concave  in  the 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


241 


middle  ;  the  place  where  alone  the  materials  first  collected 
remain  uncovered.  One  of  these  nests,  the  dimensions  of 
which  are  given  by  the  illustrious  ornithologist  Gould,  was 
fourteen  feet  high,  and  presented  a  circumference  of  a  hun- 


120.  Nest  of  the  Mound-Building  Megapodius,  vertical  section.     From  Gould. 

dred  and  fifty  feet.  Compared  to  the  size  of  the  bird,  the 
dimensions  of  such  a  mountain  are  almost  prodigious,  and 
we  ask  how,  with  its  beak  and  claws  only  for  pickaxe  and 
entire  means  of  transport,  it  contrives  to  get  together  such 


121.  Nest  of  the  Mound-Building  Megapodius,  seen  from  above.    From  Gould. 

a  mass  of  materials  !     The  celebrated  tumulus  of  Achilles 
and  that  of  Patroclus  assuredly  demanded  less  labor. 

Were  we  to  try  to  establish  a  comparison  between  the 


242  THE   UNIVERSE. 

work  of  the  Megapodius  and  that  which  a  man  could  exe- 
cute, we  should  really  be  astonished  at  the  results.  The 
comparative  size  of  the  animal  being  very  difficult  to  arrive 
at  on  account  of  the  variety  of  its  attitudes,  if  then  we 
take  the  weight  as  a  standard,  we  find  that  a  Megapodius 
weighing  rather  above  2  Ibs.  sometimes  raises  its  mound 
more  than  10  feet  in  height ; l  now,  as  a  man  weighs,  on  an 
average,  about  130  Ibs.,  he  must,  in  order  to  build  a  structure 
corresponding  to  the  nest  of  the  bird,  accumulate  a  moun- 
tain of  earth  which  would  be  almost  double  the  height  and 
bulk  of  the  great  pyramid  of  Egypt ! 

The  mighty  task  completed,  the  female  bird  confides  its 
eggs  to  it.  She  usually  lays  eight,  which  she  disposes  in  a 
circle  in  the  centre  of  the  nest  among  the  herbs  and  leaves 
which  lie  heaped  up  at  this  spot.  They  are  placed  at  ex- 
actly equal  distances  from  each  other  and  in  a  vertical 
position.  When  the  laying  is  completed  the  Megapodius 
abandons  its  masterpiece  and  its  offspring,  Providence  hav- 
ing revealed  to  it  that  henceforth  it  is  no  longer  useful  to 
them. 

Endowed  with  a  marvellous  chemical  instinct,  this  bird 
only  collects  such  a  mass  of  vegetable  matter  that  it  may 
commit  the  hatching  of  its  eggs  to  the  fermentation  pro- 
duced among  the  collected  plants.  It  is  in  fact  on  the  heat 
so  engendered  that  the  bird  relies  for  supplying  her  place  ; 
the  mother  thus  substituting  a  chemical  process  for  her  own 
cares. 

1  One  measured  by  Mr.  Jukes  was  150  feet  in  circumference,  the  slope  of  the 
sides  18  to  24  feet,  and  the  perpendicular  height  10  or  12  feet.  The  eggs  are  as 
large  as  those  of  a  swan,  and  are  considered  a  great  delicacy, 


I 

1 

£ 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  245 

Reaumur  proposed  to  leave  the  incubation  of  our  hens' 
eggs  to  the  heat  of  dung,  but  they  were  poisoned  by  its 
mephitic  vapors.  The  Megapodius,  more  judicious  than  the 
celebrated  academician,  employs  the  fermentation  of  grass 
and  leaves,  which  is  not  attended  by  the  same  inconvenience. 

Everything  in  the  history  of  this  animal  is  extraordinary. 
Instead  of  being  born  naked,  or  covered  with  down,  and  of 
issuing  from  the  egg  incapable  of  procuring  its  subsistence, 
the  young  Megapodius  when  it  breaks  its  shell  is  already 
provided  with  feathers  fitted  for  flight.  It  is  scarcely  free 
ere  it  aspires  to  seek  the  light  and  air,  throws  off  the  leaves 
which  surround  and  stifle  it,  mounts  on  the  crest  of  its 
tumulus,  dries  its  yet  moist  wings  in  the  sun,  and  tests 
them  by  a  few  flaps.  Lastly,  quickly  becoming  confident 
in  its  strength  and  fortune,  and  having  cast  a  disturbed  and 
inquisitive  look  upon  the  surrounding  country,  the  feeble 
bird  takes  its  flight  into  the  atmosphere  and  quits  its  cradle 
forever  ;  it  knows  how  to  nourish  itself  as  soon  as  it  is 
born! 

Another  Australian  bird  possesses  the  same  instinctive 
foresight  as  that  of  which  we  have  been  speaking  ;  but,  in- 
stead of  building,  mounds,  it  is  a  sturdy  gleaner.  The 
Talegalla  Lathami,  for  so  it  is  called,  is  of  the  size  and  has 
the  look  of  a  fowl,  and  builds  its  nest  with  grass  which  it 
gleans  in  the  fields,  and  of  which  it  gathers  an  enormous 
heap,  comparable,  indeed,  to  the  cocks  which  our  hay- 
makers form  in  the  meadows.  But  it  is  not  with  its  beak, 
it  is  with  its  claws,  that  it  works.  By  means  of  one  of  them 
it  collects  a  little  bottle  of  hay,  which  it  grasps  in  its  toes ; 
this  it  carries  to  its  nest,  hopping  along  upon  the  other  foot. 


246  THE    UNIVERSE. 

When,  as  a  result  of  innumerable  journeys,  the  heap  has 
grown  large  enough,  the  female  lays  its  eggs  in  it.  Know- 
ing as  well  as  we  do  that  hay  heats  by  drying,  it  relies 
upon  the  warmth  for  the  incubation  of  its  brood,  which  it 
abandons  immediately  after  laying.  The  young  Talegallas 
are  born  as  completely  feathered  as  the  Megapodii,  and  just 
as  able  to  shift  for  themselves  when  they  issue  from  the 
egg.  Hence,  a  few  minutes  after  having  scattered  about 
the  hay  which  surrounds  them,  they  take  flight. 

A  little  rodent  of  the  Siberian  Alps,  the  Lagomys,  the 
size  of  which  does  not  equal  that  of  a  rabbit,  accumulates 
similar  heaps  of  hay  as  much  as  five  feet  high  and  eight 
feet  in  diameter.  The  Tartars  frequently  appropriate  the 
fruits  of  its  labor  in  order  to  feed  their  horses.  Some  day 
perhaps  man  will  in  the  same  way  make  use  of  the  nests  of 
the  Talegallas,  which  are  even  more  laborious  gleaners. 


CHAPTER  III. 

WORK   AND    THE    FAMILY. 

THE  whole  tribe  of  wrens  and  titmice  make  us  forget 
their  tiny  size  in  the  skilful  finish  of  their  work,  and  the 
delightful  love  which  reigns  in  every  family  ;  their  house- 
holds are  sometimes  a  perfect  marvel  to  witness. 

Among  these  charming  guests  of  our  thickets  we  may 
refer  to  the  common  wren,  which  builds  a  nest  similar  to  a 
little  underground  house.  Then  comes  the  long-tailed  tit- 
mouse, the  globular  abode  of  which  does  not  exceed  the  size 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


247 


of  the  fist,  and  which  is  made  of  moss  and  lichen.     The 
mother  enters  by  an  excessively  narrow  opening,  and  often 


12;3.  Nest  of  the  Penduline  Titmouse:  Parus pendulinus  (Latham).    From  the  Rouen  Museum. 

nourishes  ten  or  twelve  little  ones.  It  is  quite  inexplicable 
how  so  numerous  a  family  can  be  crowded  into  such  an  ex- 
tremely little  chamber.  One  would  think  they  must  be 


248 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


stifled  ;  but  the  young  birds,  heaped  one  upon  another,  are 
only  so  much  the  more  thoroughly  warmed,  and  the  whole 
brood  live  happy  and  gay  in  their  tiny  little  bed. . 


124.  Nest  of  the  Cape  Titmouse :  Parus  Capensis.     From  Sonnerat. 

In  respect  to  the  elegance  of  its  construction  the  pendu- 
line  titmouse  astonishes  the  observer  still  more.  Its  nest, 
suspended  to  the  branch  of  a  tree,  has  exactly  the  shape  of 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  251 

a  chemist's  retort,  only  that,  instead  of  being  manufactured 
of  such  hard  material,  nothing  enters  into  the  composition 
of  it  but  fine  moss  and  down.  The  opening  is  carefully 
woven ;  not  one  vegetable  fibre  protrudes  beyond  the  other. 

Who  can  describe  in  what  a  marvellous  manner  the  bird, 
while  still  on  the  wing,  approaches  its  nest,  enters  and 
issues  by  an  opening  which  seems  to  have  scarcely  the 
diameter  of  its  body,  and  without  ever  deranging  a  fibre  ? 

The  huts  of  some  savages  remain  constantly  open ;  their 
limited  capacity  has  not  yet  taught  them  to  invent  the  pro- 
tecting door.  Spiders  are  more  ingenious.  There  are  some 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  understand  how  to  secure  them- 
selves in  their  subterranean  abodes  by  a  skilfully  con- 
structed door.  Some  birds  take  analogous  precautions. 

In  his  work  on  the  "  Birds  of  India,"  Mr.  Jerdon  details 
the  curious  domestic  arrangements  of  some  species  of  the 
genus  Homrain  of  French  naturalists,  the  males  of  which, 
at  the  time  of  laying,  imprison  the  female  in  her  nest. 
They  close  the  entrance  to  it  by  means  of  a  thick  wall  of 
mud,  leaving  only  a  small  hole,  by  which  the  hen  breathes 
and  protrudes  her  beak  to  receive  her  food.  To  this,  in- 
deed, her  too  stern  spouse  brings  every  moment  some 
morsel  for  her  to  peck  at ;  for,  to  his  praise  be  it  said,  that, 
though  he  is  barbarous  enough  to  immure  her,  he  feeds  her 
with  the  most  tender  solicitude.  This  enforced  retirement 
only  ceases  with  the  termination  of  the  hatching,  when  the 
pair  break  the  prison-door. 

In  his  voyage  to  India,  Sonnerat  speaks  of  a  Cape  tit- 
mouse, the  nest  of  which,  shaped  like  a  bottle  and  made  of 
cotton,  merits  notice.  Whilst  the  female  is  hatching  inside, 


252  THE    UNIVERSE. 

the  male,  a  most  watchful  sentinel,  remains  outside,  resting 
in  a  pouch  made  for  the  purpose,  fixed  to  one  side  of  the 
neck  of  the  nest.  But  when  his  mate  moves  off  and  he 
wishes  to  follow  her,  he  beats  the  opening  of  the  nest  vio- 
lently with  his  wing,  and  succeeds  in  closing  it,  in  order  to 
protect  his  young  from  enemies. 

In  respect  to  ingenuity  of  construction  developed  by  the 
love  of  family  and  work,  there  is  nothing  that  can  be  com- 
pared to  the  doings  of  the  sociable  grossbeak.  This  little 
Cape  bird,  of  the  size  and  appearance  of  our  sparrow,  lives 
in  numerous  societies,  all  the  members  of  which  unite  to 
form  an  immense  city,  built  upon  a  tree,  having  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  gigantic  umbrella,  of  which  the  trunk  of  the 
tree  is  the  handle.  There  are  sometimes  more  than  300 
separate  compartments,  which  means  that  it  is  inhabited  by 
more  than  600  birds.  This  nest  is  so  heavy  that  Levaillant, 
who  brought  one  away  during  his  travels  in  Africa,  was 
obliged  to  employ  a  wagon  and  several  men  to  remove  it. 
When  they  are  seen  at  a  distance  in  the  landscape,  we 
might  think  we  were  looking  at  huge  roofs  suspended  to 
the  trunks  or  branches  of  the  trees  scattered  about,  and 
round  which  a  multitude  of  birds  are  playing. 

We  have  said  that  amongst  the  winged  tribes  specimens 
of  almost  all  the  industrial  arts  are  found.  One  would 
scarcely  expect  to  find  seamstresses  among  them,  for  the 
beak  of  the  bird  seems  ill-adapted  enough  for  needle-work, 
and  yet  some  of  these  animals  produce  work  exactly  anal- 
ogous. I  do  not  here  in  any  way  allude  to  the  weaver- 
birds,  the  nests  of  which,  made  of  fine  grass  and  known  to 
all  the  world,  represent  an  inextricable  net-work  ;  but  to 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


253 


the  tailor-bird,  a  charming  exotic  species,  which  takes  two 
very  long  lanceolated  leaves  and  sews  the  edges  of  them 
together  by  means  of  flexible  grass  instead  of  thread.  After 


J2G.  Tailor-Bird  and  Nest:  Sylvia  sutoria  (Latham).    From  the  British  Museum. 

this  the  female  fills  the  little  sack  which  they  form  with 
cotton,  and  her  pretty  young  ones  rest  upon  this  downy 
bed,  which  is  gently  rocked  by  the  least  breath  of  wind. 
This  nest,  which  is  extremely  rare,  but  of  which  I  saw  some 


254  THE    UNIVERSE. 

specimens  in  the  British  Museum,  is  a  real  masterpiece  of 

ingenuity. 

The  oriole  of  our  climate  executes  an  analogous  task.    Its 


127.  Nest  of  the  Golden  Oriole  :   Oriolus  galbula  (Linnaeus).    From  the  Rouen  Museum. 

nest  resembles  a  circular  concave  cup,  and  is  formed  of  a 
mass  of  plants  finely  interlaced.     The  bird  always  suspends 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  255 

it  from  the  bifurcation  of  two  branches  of  a  tree.  For  this 
purpose  it  chooses  those  which  lie  horizontally,  and  always 
stitches  its  airy  abode  by  means  of  a  round  stitch,  done  not 
with  grass,  but  with  a  piece  of  string  or  a  thread-end,  which 
it  has  stolen  from  some  neighboring  factory  or  dwelling,  so 
that  one  might  feel  inclined  to  ask  what  it  did  before  pack- 
thread and  spinning  were  invented. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

IDLERS   AND   ASSASSINS. 

IT  would  seem  that  in  the  bird  activity  and  intelligence 
are  in  inverse  proportion  to  size.  The  idlers  and  freebooters 
of  the  air  generally  belong  to  the  most  robust  tribes. 

The  wren  lovingly  hatches  its  charming  little  family  be- 
neath a  dome  of  moss  and  down,  constructed  with  deli- 
cacy and  ingenuity,  and  often  sheltered  by  the  eaves  of 
our  roofs  ;  a  perfect  mattressed  sphere,  which  the  mother 
scarcely  dares  to  quit,  so  much  does  she  love  her  brood. 

The  ostrich,  a  living  emblem  of  force  united  to  indolence, 
does  not  give  itself  the  trouble  to  construct  a  nest  at  all. 
After  having  simply  scattered  the  sand  by  means  of  its  feet, 
it  deposits  its  eggs  upon  the  place,  and  commits  their  incu- 
bation to  the  burning  sun  of  the  desert.  It  only  sits  upon 
them  in  cold  and  damp  nights ;  and,  as  if  even  this  maternal 
effort  were  too  great  a  strain  upon  her  tenderness,  several 
mothers  are  seen  dividing  among  them  the  cares  of  a  doubt- 
ful parentage,  for  it  seems  certain  that  several  ostriches  lay 


256 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


their  eggs  together  in  the  same   excavation  in  the  sand. 
Levaillant  watched  a  whole  night  in  a  thicket  in  order  to 


128.  Nest  of  the  Common  Wren:  Troglodytes  Europaus  (Cuvier). 

observe  the  manoeuvres  of  these  birds,  and  saw  four  fe- 
males betake  themselves  to  the  same  heap  of  eggs ;  "  they 
relieved  each  other  in  succession/'  says  this  traveller.1  The 

1  The  traveller  Levaillant  counted  as  many  as  thirty-eight  eggs  in  an  ostrich's 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  257 

male  is  equally  called  upon  to  make  up  for  the  indolence 
of  his  mate  ;  he  sits  upon  the  eggs  also  :  a  nurse  of  the 
opposite  sex. 

The  long-eared  owls  (Strix  bubo,  Linn.)  and  the  great 
owls  (Strix  otus,  Linn.)  are  scarcely  more  interested  in 
their  nidification.  Almost  all  these  nocturnal  idlers  simply 
deposit  their  eggs  upon  the  dust  which  time  has  accumu- 
lated in  the  nooks  of  rocks  or  caverns  ;  others  install  them- 
selves in  ruined  chateaux  or  churches ;  some  content  them- 
selves with  the  holes  afforded  by  the  decaying  trunks  of 
aged  trees.  The  barn-owl  (Strix  flammea,  Linn.),  a  little  less 
careless,  before  laying,  covers  with  a  thin  layer  of  moss 
the  bare  stone  of  the  obscure  vault  in  the  depths  of  which 
she  rears  a  brood  that  dread  the  light. 

The  birds  of  the  tribe  to  which  quails,  partridges,  and 
hens  belong  are  all  very  clumsy  workmen,  contenting  them- 
selves with  exposing  their  broods  on  miserable  litter,  or  on 
the  arid  soil  itself.  The  beautiful  doves  themselves  scarcely 
take  more  care  of  their  progeny.  Their  nests,  negligently 
placed  on  the  boughs,  consist  of  a  platform  of  loosely  laid 
twigs,  without  moss  or  down,  in  which  the  egg,  exposed  to 
the  air  on  all  sides,  seems  every  instant  in  danger  of  falling. 
It  is  the  handiwork  of  a  thoughtless  beauty,  whose  couch 
seems  as  if  it  would  be  more  likely  to  freeze  than  warm  her 
young  family. 

We  find  more  extent  but  not  more  intelligence  in  the 

nest,  which  leads  to  the  inference  that  several  females  were  concerned  in  laying 
them.  His  observations  and  those  of  Sparmann  prove  that  the  males  take  upon 
themselves  the  duty  of  incubation.  Both  these  travellers  surprised  males  on  the 
nests;  and  the  latter  of  the  two  saw  as  many  traces  of  the  one  sex  as  of  the  other 
at  these  places,  showing  that  they  are  equally  frequented  by  males  and  females. 


258 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


buildings  executed  by  the  great  carnivorous  birds,  such  as 
the  eagles,  goshawks,  and  falcons,  —  the  lords  of  the  air. 
Fierce  and  solitary,  the  former  perch  their  nests  in  the 


129.  Nest  of  the  Barn-Owl :  Strix  flammea  (Linnaeus).     From  the  Rouen  Museum. 

midst  of  the  most  horrible  precipices,  without  dreading 
either  the  roar  of  the  cataract  or  the  crash  of  the  ava- 
ianche.  The  bulk  of  the  work  and  the  mass  of  the  mate- 


130.  Nest  of  the  Goshawk:  Astur palumbarius  (Bonaparte). 
From  the  Rouen  Museum. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  261 

rials  employed  are  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of  the 
architect.  The  eyry  of  the  eagle  is  a  heap  of  great  branches 
of  trees  carelessly  flung  together,  forming  a  thick,  rude 
mattress,  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  in  circumference.  This  nest 
serves  the  couple  which  build  it  for  their  whole  lives,  but 
its  size  increases  with  years,  because  the  bones  of  all  the 
animals  brought  thither  by  the  parents  and  devoured  by 
the  hungry  family  are  heaped  up  round  it  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  at  a  certain  lapse  of  time  the  eyry  of  one  of  these 
robbers  becomes  a  pestilential  charnel-house. 

The  nests  built  by  the  goshawk  display  even  less  skill :  it 
employs  only  little  fagots,  and  yet  its  nest  is  four  feet  in 
circumference. 

Some  of  our  idlers,  resolved  to  do  no  work  at  all,  become 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  thieves ;  others,  more  coura- 
geous, are  regular  brigands.  The  latter  attack  face  to  face 
the  enemy  they  want  to  devour  ;  or  throw  their  victim  from 
the  window  in  order  to  take  possession  of  its  domicile. 

To  this  legion  belong  the  voracious  butcher-birds  of  our 
woods,  which  slaughter  so  many  little  birds  and  spit  their 
bodies  on  the  thorns  of  our  thickets. 

In  the  ranks  of  the  most  obstinate  thieves  we  must  place 
the  sparrow.  Linnaeus  and  Gmelin  relate  as  an  established 
•fact  that  before  the  return  of  the  swallows  a  sparrow  will 
sometimes  take  possession  of  the  dwelling  deserted  by  the 
travellers.  Here  it  installs  itself,  and  when  the  legitimate 
proprietors  return,  threatens  to  cut  them  open  with  its  pow- 
erful bill.  The  plundered  swallows  call  their  companions 
in  the  vicinity  to  their  help.  Then  begins  the  siege  of  the 
place ;  some  retain  the  enemy  a  prisoner,  whilst  others  oc- 


262  THE    UNIVERSE. 

cupy  themselves  in  walling  up  the  doorway  with  quantities 
of  pellets  of  earth,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  usurper, 
closely  imprisoned  in  the  nest  he  has  invaded,  dies  of  as- 
phyxia.1 

But  of  all  these  winged  spoilers  the  most  cruel  is  the 
cuckoo.  The  mode  in  which  it  proceeds  is  as  follows  :  — 

This  idle  and  savage  inhabitant  of  our  woods  does  not 
care  either  to  build  a  nest,  to  hatch  its  eggs,  or  to  feed  its 
young.  By  means  of  trickery  it  hands  over  this  necessary 
task  to  other  birds,  and  it  is  always  upon  species  of  the 
smallest  size  that  it  imposes  the  charge  from  which  it  frees 
itself. 

The  most  illustrious  naturalists,  both  of  antiquity  and 
modern  times,  had  already  remarked  that  the  cuckoo  makes 
itself  master  of  a  strange  nest,  the  legitimate  proprietors  of 
which  are  sacrificed  for  the  benefit  of  the  invader's  prog- 
eny. But  it  is  only  recently  that  these  odious  wiles  have 
been  clearly  unveiled. 

Nature,  niggardly  with  regard  to  the  cuckoo,  has  only 
allotted  it  two  eggs.  Here,  however,  a  wise  foresight  may 
be  recognized,  for,  in  order  to  rear  its  two  little  ones,  a 
good  number  of  others  are  barbarously  sacrificed. 

It  is  the  nest  of  the  golden-crested  or  common  wren  that 

1  Although  this  story  has  been  accepted  as  authentic  by  Gmelin,  the  laborious 
commentator  on  Linnaeus,  as  well  as  by  several  French  savants,  Spallanzani,  in 
his  Memoires  sur  les  Hirondelles,  regards  it  as  doubtful.  "  It  is  true,"  he  says, 
44  that  sparrows  not  unfrequently  take  possession  of  the  nests  before  the  arrival 
of  the  swallows.  But  the  legitimate  masters  at  once  make  a  stir,  going  to  and 
fro  about  the  sparrows,  picking  quarrels  with  them,  and  ending  by  making  them 
give  up  possession."  —  Spallanzani,  Voyages  dans  les  Deux  Sidles.  Paris,  an 
viii.,  t.  6,  p.  22. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  263 

this  bird  selects  for  the  accomplishment  of  its  designs,  and 
it  only  deposits  one  egg  in  it. 

Here  a  curious  problem  presents  itself.  The  nests  of 
these  charming  visitors  of  our  groves  are  too  narrow  to  ad- 
mit of  a  bird  so  large  as  the  cuckoo  either  entering  one,  or 
resting  upon  it  in  order  to  lay ;  how,  then,  did  it  manage 
to  introduce  its  progeny  ?  Levaillant  quite  despaired  of 
being  able  to  penetrate  this  mystery,  when  chance  furnished 
him  with  an  opportunity  of  doing  so.  The  celebrated  trav- 
eller, having  killed  a  female  golden  cuckoo  in  Africa,  found 
in  its  gullet  an  unbroken  egg,  which  he  recognized  as  that  of 
the  bird  itself,  and  his  negro  assured  him  that,  frequently, 
when  killing  these  cuckoos  on  the  wing,  he  had  seen  the 
eggs  fall  from  their  mouths. 

A  modest  savant,  M.  Florent  Prevost,  to  whom  we  owe 
extensive  and  interesting  observations,  has  discovered  that 
the  same  thing  takes  place  with  respect  to  our  common 
cuckoo.  He  has  noticed  that  the  female  lays  her  egg  on 
the  ground,  and  then  takes  it  in  her  beak,  places  it  in  her 
gullet,  and  deposits  it  in  the  nest  of  the  insectivorous  spe- 
cies of  which  she  makes  choice. 

Pliny  relates  at  length  that  when  the  young  cuckoo  is 
in  the  midst  of  the  little  family  of  the  titmouse  the  latter, 
seeing  it  so  strong  and  handsome,  sacrifices,  from  a  senti- 
ment of  maternal  vanity,  all  her  other  little  ones  to  it,  and 
allows  it  to  devour  them  before  her  eyes,  falling  herself  a 
prey  to  it  in  the  end. 

Such  is  the  fiction.  Let  us  abandon  it  for  the  reality, 
which  is  no  less  extraordinary,  and  which  was  revealed  to 
us  by  a  man  of  deathless  fame,  —  Jenner,  the  discoverer  of 
vaccination. 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


It  is  not  the  mother,  but  the  young  cuckoo,  that  under- 
takes the  assassination.     The  great  physician  describes  the 


131.  Cuckoo  killing  Golden-Crested  Wrens. 


process  in  the  "  Philosophical  Transactions  "  as  follows : 
"  The  young  cuckoo,  a  few  hours  after  its  birth,  tries,  by 
the  aid  of  its  rump  and  wings,  to  glide  beneath  the  little 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  265 

bird  whose  cradle  it  shares,  and  to  get  the  latter  upon  its 
back,  where  it  keeps  it  by  raising  its  wings.  It  then  works 
itself  backward  to  the  edge  of  the  nest,  raises  itself  up  for 
an  instant,  then,  making  an  effort,  expels  its  load  from  the 
nest.  After  this  feat  it  rests  for  a  few  moments,  as  if  to 
assure  itself  of  the  success  of  its  attempt." 

The  spoiler  displays  frightful  perseverance  in  accomplish- 
ing its  work  of  destruction  ;  it  toils  at  it  incessantly,  and 
ejects  everything  from  its  cradle.  Colonel  Montague  saw 
a  young  cuckoo,  with  indefatigable  perseverance,  for  four 
whole  days  continue  to  expel  a  newly-hatched  swallow, 
which  he  took  care  to  replace  each  time  begide  it;  after 
this  period,  it  lived  on  the  best  of  terms  with  its  little  com- 
panion. 

Now  as  the  brood  of  each  wren  numbers  about  ten,  it  re- 
sults that,  to  rear  its  progeny,  the  cuckoo  sacrifices  every 
year  a  score  of  young  birds.  This  is  the  reason  why  it  has 
drawn  down  upon  itself  general  dislike,  and  has,  in  Ger- 
many, with  good  ground,  become  the  symbol  of  ingratitude. 

According  to  the  authors  of  the  "  General  Dictionary  of 
the  Sciences,"  the  female  cuckoo  sometimes  takes  upon  her- 
self the  task  of  massacring  the  little  ones  which  are  already 
hatched  at  the  time  when  she  deposits  her  eggs  in  the 
nests. 


266  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  V. 

ARCHITECTURE   INTENDED    FOR   ENJOYMENT. 

MATERNAL  love,  as  we  have  seen,  works  prodigies,  and 
neglects  nothing  requisite  for  the  welfare  and  protection  of 
the  family.  But  we  come  now  to  birds  which  devote  time 
and  labor  merely  to  luxury  and  pleasure,  and  which,  in- 
stead of  ingeniously-contrived  nests,  build  elegant  groves, 
intended  only  for  enjoyment,  —  for  promenades,  tender  pas- 
times, and  Igve-meetings. 

The  most  skilful  of  these  builders  of  bowers,  of  these 
ornithological  Le  Nostres,  is  the  Spotted  Chlamydera,  or 
bower-bird,  which  is  very  like  our  partridge.  It  may, 
however,  be  distinguished  at  the  first  view  by  it  deep- 
colored  plumage,  set  off  by  clear  spots  and  a  pretty  rose- 
tinted  collar. 

The  couple  proceed  in  an  orderly  way  to  build  their 
arbor.  They  usually  set  it  up  in  an  exposed  place,  to  en- 
joy the  sun  and  heat  better.  Their  first  care  is  to  make  a 
pavement  of  rounded  shells  of  tolerably  equal  size ;  when 
the  surface  and  thickness  of  this  are  sufficiently  forward, 
they  begin  planting  a  little  avenue  of  branches.  For  this 
purpose  they  are  seen  bringing  in  from  the  fields  fine 
shoots  of  trees  about  the  same  size,  the  thick  ends  of  which 
they  thrust  firmly  in  between  the  interstices  of  the  pebbles. 
The  birds  arrange  these  branches  in  two  parallel  rows, 
making  them  all  bend  one  towards  another,  so  as  to  re- 
semble a  miniature  avenue.  This  improvised  plantation  is 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  269 

about  a  yard  long,  and  of  such  breadth  that  the  two  lovers 
can  amuse  themselves,  or  promenade  side  by  side  beneath 
the  shelter  of  its  shade. 

So  soon  as  ever  the  arbor  is  finished,  the  amorous  couple 
think  about  embellishing  it.  For  this  purpose  they  wander 
through  the  country  in  every  direction,  and  appropriate 
every  brilliant  object  they  meet  with  in  order  to  decorate 
the  entrance.  Gleaming  mother-of-pearl  shells  are  special 
objects  of  predilection  ;  hence  the  outlets  of  the  bower  are 
provided  with  a  thick  shining  layer  of  them. 

If  these  novel  decorators  find  any  beautiful  birds'  feathers 
in  the  fields,  they  collect  and  hang  them  up  like  flowers 
to  the  dry  twig-ends  "of  their  abodes.  One  thing  is  quite 
certain  ;  every  brightly  colored  or  shining  object  on  which 
the  sun  has  accidentally  cast  its  rays  is  immediately  carried 
off.  Mr.  Gould  even  told  me  that,  in  the  districts  where 
these  birds  build,  if  a  traveller  chance  to  lose  his  watch,  his 
knife,  or  seal,  it  is  useless  to  look  in  the  place  where  they 
have  been  dropped  :  they  are  certain  to  have  been  carried 
off  by  the  bower-birds  of  the  district,  and  are  always  to  be 
found  in  the  nearest  of  their  bowers. 

The  discovery  of  this  arbor  of  love  being  quite  an  unex- 
pected fact  in  ornithology,  Mr.  Gould  was  afraid  that  his 
narrative  might  be  received  in  Europe  with  suspicion ;  he 
was  accordingly  anxious  to  bring  proofs  for  it.  For  this 
purpose,  having  carried  away  one  of  these  promenades,  or 
"  runs,"  he  contrived,  by  dint  of  infinite  care,  to  transport 
it  to  the  British  Museum,  where  it  can  now  be  admired. 

So  soon  as  people  became  acquainted  with  the  work  itself 
they  wanted  to  make  trial  of  the  workmen.  One  of  these 


270  THE   UNIVERSE. 

rustic  architects  was  brought  alive  to  the  Zoological  Gar- 
dens at  London.  It  was  placed  in  a  large  room  surrounded 
by  all  the  materials  necessary  for  its  edifice,  but  the  poor 
bird  made  a  very  sorry  affair  of  it ;  the  air  and  sun  of  its 
country  were  wanting,  and,  above  all,  it  had  no  companion. 
Its  spirit  was  gone.  When  I  saw  it,  to  plant  a  few  branches 
irregularly  in  a  heap  of  stones  and  earth  which  it  had  col- 
lected was  as  much  as  it  could  do. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

NAVAL   ARCHITECTURE. 

MANY  very  inexact  statements  have  been  made  about  the 
naval  architecture  of  certain  birds.  Fiction  has  dethroned 
truth,  and  yet  the  latter  is  infinitely  more  interesting  than 
the  tales  which  have  been  substituted  for  it. 

One  of  the  most  hardy  inhabitants  of  our  fens,  the  water 
hen  (Fulica  chloropus],  awakens  surprise  by  the  form  and 
elegance  of  the  nest  which  she  plants  sometimes  near  the 
edge  of  the  water,  sometimes  on  its  surface.  In  the  former 
case  these  nests  are  so  many  little  altars  raised  above  the 
ground,  and  covered  over  by  an  arbor  of  reeds,  the  bent 
leaves  of  which  form  an  elegant  little  vault  of  verdure  above 
the  brood.  In  other  cases,  floating  on  the  surface  of  some 
pond  and  almost  totally  concealed  from  sight  by  a  hedge  of 
young  reeds,  they  have  the  entrance,  by  a  peculiarity  met 
with  nowhere  else,  adorned  with  a  long  train  of  reeds,  slop- 
ing from  the  edge  of  the  nest  into  the  water,  and  forming  a 


133.  Nest  of  the  Reed  Warbler:  Motaciila  arundinacea  (Gmelin). 
From  the  Rouen  Museum. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  273 

kind  of  ladder,  by  which  the.  family  are  enabled  to  mount  to 
their  resting-place,  after  swimming  home. 

It  has  often  been  repeated  in  old  works  on  natural  his- 
tory that  the  reed  warbler  (Motacilla  arundinacea)  fixes  its 
nest,  which  is  of  interlaced  grasses,  to  the  reeds,  and  that 
the  elegant  cradle,  filled  with  the  young,  floats  on  the  sur- 
face of  our  streams,  rising  or  falling  along  with  the  support- 
ing plants  according  as  the  water  rises  or  falls,  but  always 
swimming  on  the  surface  and  preserving  the  young  from 
shipwreck. 

This  is  not  correct,  however.  The  nest  of  the  warbler 
displays  an  ingenious  structure,  and  that  is  all.  It  is  formed 
of  tangled  grass,  and.  is  always  fixed  near  the  top  of  three 
stems  of  the  common  reed.  It  is  in  this  that  the  pretty 
little  female  hatches  her  eggs  in  security.  But  its  nest 
neither  rises  nor  falls  upon  the  tripod  of  plants  which  it 
binds  closely  together,  and  if  it  did  it  would  not  float,  being 
quite  permeable  by  water,  so  that  the  brood  would  be 
drowned. 

The  ancient  authors,  both  poets  and  historians,  have 
often  celebrated  other  floating  nests,  namely,  those  of  the 
Halcyon,  the  bird  that  delighted  to  live  in  the  midst  of  the 
waves,  rocked  with  its  nestlings  in  the  floating  cradle  which 
it  intrusted  to  the  sea.  In  their  charming  fables  they  re- 
late that  it  was  towards  the  setting  of  the  Pleiades  that  the 
bird  of  the  storm  built  it.  Then  the  murmur  of  the  waves 
ceased,  and  the  winds  grew  silent,  in  order  that  the  work  of 
God  might  be  accomplished  on  a  tranquil  sea.  These  were 
the  beautiful  days  which  in  the  East  occur  at  the  winter 
solstice,  and  which  the  pilots  called  "the  days  of  the 
Halcyon  " 


274  THE    UNIVERSE. 

"  These  nests,"  says  Pliny,  "  are  worthy  of  admiration ; 
they  have  the  shape  of  a  ball  and  resemble  a  large  sponge. 
They  cannot  be  cut  with  iron,  but  a  violent  shock  shivers 
them."  Plutarch  believed  that  they  were  composed  only 
of  fish-bones  interlaced ;  but  it  appears  that  the  philosopher 
mistook  the  carapaces  of  the  sea-urchin,  which  are  often 
brought  ashore  by  the  waves,  for  the  nests  of  the  Halcyon. 

Though  it  is  now  well  known  that  the  Halcyon  of  an- 
tiquity, which  is  nothing  more  than  our  kingfisher,  does 
not  commit  a  floating  nest  to  the  sea,  the  ardent  ornithol- 
ogists who  study  the  habits  of  the  dwellers  in  our  fens 
have  discovered  some  species,  the  marvellous  nidification 
of  which  outstrips  even  that  fabled  to  be  practised  by  the 
Halcyon. 

This  is  the  case  with  the  nest  of  the  little  grebe.  This 
swimming  bird  hatches  its  young  upon  a  regular  raft.  It 
is  a  mass  of  strong  stems  of  aquatic  plants  closely  united  to- 
gether, and  as  these  contain  a  considerable  amount  of  air 
in  their  ample  and  numerous  cells,  and  as,  in  addition,  they 
set  free  gases  during  the  process  of  rotting,  these  aeriform 
fluids,  imprisoned  by  the  plants,  make  the  nest  lighter  than 
water.  It  is  found  floating  in  lonely  spots  where  the  tall 
rushes  and  great  reeds  grow.  There,  in  her  improvised 
craft,  the  female,  upborne  on  her  watery  bed,  tranquilly 
broods  on  her  offspring.  But  if  any  intruder  happen  to  dis- 
cover her,  if  anything  threaten  her  safety,  the  wild  bird 
plunges  one  of  her  feet  into  the  water,  and  makes  use  of  it 
as  a  paddle,  with  which  she  transports  her  dwelling  to  a  dis- 
tance. The  little  sailor  guides  her  frail  skiff  whither  she 
likes,  sometimes  dragging  along  a  perfect  sheet  of  water- 


134.  Floating  Nests  of  the  Little  Grebe :  Coiymbus  minor  (Ginelin).      From  an  original 
sketch  by  M.  Nourry  of  Elboei. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  277 

plants  with  her.  The  whole  structure  looks  like  a  little 
floating  island  carried  away  by  the  labor  of  the  grebe,  which 
moves  in  the  centre  of  a  mass  of  verdure. 

Thus  the  truth  is  more  extraordinary  than  fiction.1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MINERS    AND   MASONS. 

EVERY  traveller  who  approaches  the  shores  of  the 
southern  seas  is  struck  by  the  sight  of  the  innumerable 
flocks  of  penguins  which  swarm  upon  them. 

Birds  in  their  radical  organization,  they  are  quite  fish  in 
their  habits.  Their  wings,  transformed  into  fins,  render 
them  unfit  for  flight,  and  their  feet  are  only  suited  for 
swimming.  Hence,  not  being  able  to  rise  in  the  air,  or 
escape  by  running,  they  stumble  and  fall  to  the  ground  at 
every  step  they  take  when  they  are  trying  to  escape  from 
some  aggressor.  The  sailors  calculate  upon  their  falling, 
when  they  wish  to  kill  them,  and  often  make  a  complete 
massacre  of  them.  But  matters  are  quite  different  when 
the  penguins  gain  the  water,  their  favorite  element.  They 
precipitate  themselves  into  it  from  the  tops  of  rocks  ten  to 
fifteen  feet  above  the  waves,  and,  having  reached  the  sea, 
dive  and  swim  with  a  swiftness  which  mocks  that  of  the 

1  All  the  details  related  here  as  to  the  little  grebe  (Colymbus  minor)  were 
given  me  by  M.  Nourry,  director  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  at  Elboeuf. 
The  sketch  representing  the  nests  of  this  bird  was  also  executed  by  this  dis- 
tinguished ornithologist,  who  often  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  forests  in  order  to 
study  the  manners  of  birds  unobserved. 


278  THE   UNIVERSE. 

largest  fish,  and  utterly  confounds  the  smaller  ones,  —  their 
habitual  prey. 

Seated  on  their  tails,  and  always  in  an  upright  position 
on  the  shore,  these  birds,  scattered  about  in  innumerable 
bands,  with  their  white  bellies  and  their  black  cowls  and 
cloaks,  recall  the  costume  of  certain  religious  bodies ;  a  fact 
which  has  made  sailors  often  compare  them  to  a  procession 
of  penitents. 

Excellent  swimmers,  but  bad  walkers,  penguins,  not  be- 
ing able  to  build  either  in  trees  or  on  the  sea,  have  been 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  the  shore.  Of  too  lim- 
ited a  capacity  to  weave  a  nest,  they  are  satisfied,  being 
simply  miners,  with  scooping  out  a  hole  in  the  ground. 

It  is  generally  on  desert  islands  covered  with  grass  that 
these  animals  establish  their  subterranean  abodes.  They 
hollow  these  out  by  means  of  their  beak  and  feet  just  be- 
neath the  ground,  and  make  them  sometimes  as  much  as 
three  feet  deep.  The  interior  by  its  form  gives  one  the 
idea  of  an  oven,  of  which  the  narrow  and  depressed  en- 
trance well  represents  the  door.  From  every  cavern  pro- 
ceeds a  concealed  road,  carried  through  the  tall  grass  and 
covered  by  the  tops  of  it.  It  is  by  these  tortuous  and 
shady  paths  that  the  birds  pass  from  their  nests  to  the 
shore. 

These  subterranean  works  have  multiplied  to  such  an  ex- 
tent in  some  localities  that  it  often  happens  that  the  sailors 
sink  in  when  walking.  The  penguin,  disturbed  by  this  un- 
expected invasion,  throws  itself  upon  the  imprudent  mortal 
who  has  broken  into  its  abode,  and  frequently  the  visitor 
cannot  withdraw  his  leg  till  he  has  received  some  smart 


135.  Nests  of  the  Red  Flamingo:  Pkoenicopterus  ruber  (Cuvier). 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  281 

wounds  from  the  sharp  blows  of  its  beak.  More  than  one 
mariner  has  left  a  portion  of  his  trousers  behind  him. 

The  tribe  of  masons  is  very  numerous,  and  these  winged 
architects  employ  very  various  materials  in  their  edifices. 
Many,  like  the  ancient  Germans,  construct  their  buildings 
only  with  earth  or  clay.  Others  make  use  *of  plants  after 
having  worked  them  into  a  pulp  like  mortar  or  mastic. 

The  most  powerful,  but  at  the  same  time  the  clumsiest,  of 
all  our  race  of  masons  is  the  flamingo,  the  rude  construc- 
tions of  which  we  pardon  for  the  sake  of  its  splendid  plu- 
mage, tinted  with  rose  color  and  brilliant  red.  This  great 
wader,  gorgeous  troops  of  which  enjoy  themselves  on  the 
shores  of  hot  countries,  usually  builds  its  nest  not  far  from 
the  sea,  and  arranges  it  in  a  very  peculiar  way,  as  its  mon- 
strously long  legs  would  not  adapt  themselves  to  the  ordi- 
nary style  of  nest  building. 

Flamingoes  place  their  nests  upon  the  ground,  and  build 
them  solely  of  coarsely  tempered  mud.  These  nests  are 
very  curiously  shaped,  being  like  a  narrow,  lengthened  cone, 
and  are  about  twenty  inches  in  height ;  their  truncated 
summit  presents  a  concavity,  at  the  bottom  of  which  the 
female  deposits  two  or  three  white  eggs.  In  order  to  hatch 
them  she  places  her  abdomen  over  them,  and  allows  her 
legs  to  hang  down  on  both  sides  of  the  raised  cone  which 
forms  her  edifice. 

Our  visitants,  the  swallows,  are  more  skilful  builders  than 
the  flamingoes.  The  little  nuptial  chambers  which  they 
construct  beneath  the  cornices  of  our  windows,  or  in  the 
pointed  arches  of  our  churches,  are  made  of  pure  earth, 
which  they  pick  out  bit  by  bit  on  the  bank  of  the  river. 
Who  knows  in  the  course  of  how  many  journeys  ? 


282 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


The  Salanganes,  or  esculent  swallows,  which  inhabit  China 
and  the  neighboring  islands,  build  nests  which  resemble  so 
many  little  bowls,  which  they  affix  by  thousands  to  inacces- 
sible rocks,  or  in  sombre  caverns,  as  if  to  hide  their  chaste 
loves  from  every  gaze. 

These  nests  are  formed  of  a  dirty  white  substance,  which 


136.  Edible  Nests  of  the  Salanganes:  Hirundo  esculenta  (Latham). 

seems  exactly  analogous  to  isinglass  reduced  to  filaments 
agglutinated  to  one  another ;  this  singular  appearance  has 
made  people  ascribe  them  to  the  most  diverse  sources. 
They  seemed  so  odd  to  Kaempfer  that  he  would  not  be- 
lieve in  them ;  the  celebrated  explorer  of  Japan  insisted 
that  they  were  made  artificially  from  the  flesh  of  various 
Polypi. 


137.  Nests  of  the  Party-Colored  Wren :  Reyulus  omniculor  ( Vieillot). 
From  the  Rouen  Museum. 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  285 

M.  Poivre,  who  to  the  title  of  Governor  of  the  Isle  of 
France,  united  another  which  conferred  far  higher  renown 
upon  him,  that  of  a  distinguished  philosopher,  was  the  first 
who  cleared  up  the  history  of  the  Salanganes,  and  gathered 
some  of  their  nests  with  his  own  hands ;  but  he  was  mis- 
taken in  supposing  that  these  swallows  built  them  of  fish- 
spawn,  an  opinion  which  long  prevailed. 

It  was  M.  Lamouroux  who,  first  of  all,  in  1821,  gave  us 
an  exact  account  of  the  composition  of  these  extraordinary 
nests.  He  found  out  that  the  birds  build  them  of  various 
marine  plants  which  they  gather  in  the  waves,  belonging 
chiefly  to  the  genera  Gelidium  and  Sphserococcus.  These 
the  swallows  bear  away  from  the  surface,  while  skimming 
over  the  billows,  gulp  down,  and  afterwards  disgorge,  mixed 
with  their  digestive  fluids,  which  render  them  glutinous  and 
facilitate  the  building  of  the  maternal  homes. 

The  gathering  of  these  nests  is  dangerous,  because  the 
swallows  often  place  them  in  the  depths  of  inaccessible  cav- 
erns, into  which  it  is  necessary  to  slide  by  a  rope  or  descend 
by  means  of  long  bamboo  ladders.  The  Chinese,  who  make 
a  business  of  collecting  them,  only  begin  after  they  have 
secured  the  protection  of  the  gods  by  certain  preliminary 
sacrifices,  and  perfumed  the  entrance  to  the  caverns  with 
benzoin  or  other  odoriferous  substances. 

The  nests  of  these  swallows  have  acquired  great  celebrity 
on  account  of  the  use  to  which  they  are  put  in  China  for 
food.  There  they  are  an  indispensable  ornament  of  every 
grand  repast.  Their  price  is  very  high,  so  that  persons  who 
own  caverns  frequented  by  these  swallows  derive  consider- 
ble  revenues  from  them.  Broken  up  into  little  morsels 


286  THE    UNIVERSE. 

they  take  the  place  of  rice  or  tapioca  in  soup,  and  their  taste 
greatly  resembles  that  of  the  latter.1 

But  the  most  charming  of  our  aerial  masons  is  assuredly 
the  party-colored  wren,  crowned  with  its  brilliant  crest  of 
gold.  Its  nest  resembles  so  many  wide-mouthed  extinguish- 
ers reversed,  and  glued  by  one  side  to  the  steins  of  reeds. 
These  little  breeding-cups  are  composed  of  bits  of  grass 
pasted  together  with  mud  and  saliva,  forming  a  thin  wall 
almost  as  hard  as  cardboard,  a  transition  step  to  the  nests 
of  the  esculent  swallow. 

There  are  also  workers  which  employ  mixed  materials, 
and  which  we  do  not  know  how  to  classify.  Among  these 
is  the  common  thrush.  Externally  its  beautiful  nest  is 
formed  entirely  of  tufts  of  moss,  as  if  it  were  to  be  a  luxu- 
rious structure  ;  internally  it  is  lined  with  a  compact  coating 
of  earth,  on  which  the  brood  lie  naked,  as  if  the  parents 
dreaded  the  effect  which  the  heat  of  down  would  have  upon 
them.  This  bird  is  therefore  only  half  a  mason,  and  its  nest 
is  a  perfect  architectural  anomaly  in  the  class  to  which  the 
bird  belongs ;  since  in  this  class  the  parents  usually  deposit 
their  progeny  on  a  soft  and  warm  bed  of  down,  while  it 
places  them  on  a  surface  cold  and  quite  bare. 

We  have,  at  the   beginning  of   this  chapter,  seen  that 

1  These  birds  are  found  in  great  abundance  in  all  parts  of  the  Eastern  Archi- 
pelago, and  also  on  the  continent  of  India ;  the  nests  are  collected  in  large  quan- 
tities, and  constitute  an  important  article  of  commerce  with  China.  The  prices 
paid  for  these  nests  in  the  Canton  market  vary  greatly  according  to  the  quality; 
those  of  the  best  and  purest  sort  fetch  the  enormous  price  of  3500  Spanish  dol- 
lars (=4.9.  Qd.  each)  per  pecul,  or  about  25  dollars  per  pound;  the  second  quality 
brings  2800  Spanish  dollars  per  pecul;  and  the  third  not  more  than  1600  dollars. 
In  some  parts  of  China,  however,  as  much  as  40  dollars  has  been  paid  for  a  catty 
of  birds'  nests,  or  rather  more  than  one  pound  and  a  quarter.  —  Goodrich. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  287 

there  is  a  web-footed  bird  which  hollows  out  a  kind  of  oven 
under  the  soil,  in  which  incubation  takes  place.    An  Ameri- 


138.  Burrowing-Owl :  Strix  cuniculnria  (Ch.  Bonaparte),  and  Section  of  its  Burrow. 

can  sparrow  is  still  more  ingenious ;  it  builds  one.  It  is  a 
regular  mason,  and  '  hence  the  name  of  oven-builder  has 
naturally  been  given  to  it.  It  is  a  more  robust  workman 


288  THE    UNIVERSE. 

than  the  swallow.  It  is  astonishing  what  a  number  of  jour- 
neys it  must  make  to  carry  to  the  tops  of  the  trees  the  tem- 
pered, almost  pure,  earth  of  which  its  family-dwelling  is 
composed.  The  oven-bird  is  the  size  of  a  quail.  Its  hemi- 
spherical nests,  placed  in  the  bifurcation  of  large  branches 
of  trees,  are  more  than  eight  inches  in  diameter,  and  weigh 
from  three  to  four  pounds.  Even  if  such  a  building  cannot 
be  compared  in  point  of  labor  to  that  of  the  Megapodius,  it 
is  nevertheless  remarkable  for  its  compact  masonry  and  for 
its  opening  being  exactly  similar  to  the  mouth  of  a  baker's 
oven. 

Prince  Charles  Bonaparte  has  made  us  acquainted  with  a 
charming  and  curious  little  owl,  which  ought  also  to  be 
placed  in  the  category  we  are  speaking  of.  It  is  a  revolted 
child,  which  disdains  all  the  traditions  of  its  family,  and 
which,  in  spite  of  an  owl's  nocturnal  livery,  deserts  the  an- 
cient ruin  and  the  obscurity  of  the  cave,  to  hunt  in  full  day 
and  by  a  bright  light  which  would  blind  its  comrades.  This 
species  abounds  in  the  Mississippi  regions,  where  it  shelters 
itself  in  subterranean  abodes  several  yards  in  depth,  the 
entrance  to  which  is  crowned  by  a  mound  of  earth.  It  is 
called  the  burro  wing-owl  (Strix  cunicularid) ;  nevertheless, 
it  does  not  strictly  merit  the  appellation,  for  it  is  often  sim- 
ply a  spoiler,  installing  itself  in  the  villages  of  the  marmots 
or  prairie-dogs,  which  it  probably  drives  away.  What  is 
certain  is  that,  according  to  this  illustrious  ornithologist, 
the  two  animals  do  not  live  together,  but  when  menaced  by 
a  common  danger  the  marmot  and  owl  squat  at  the  bottom 
of  the  same  hiding  hole,  where  they  are  sometimes  found 
surrounded  by  the  most  unexpected  guests,  —  in  the  midst 
of  a  company  of  toads,  rattlesnakes,  and  lizards ! 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  289 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

WEAVERS. 

MANY  birds  construct  for  their  nests  a  kind  of  canvas, 
composed  of  grasses  twisted  together  in  a  very  compact 
manner,  resembling  a  coarse  cloth  woven  upon  the  loom  of 
some  primitive  tribe.  These  are  in  truth  weavers,  who 
work  up  vegetable  fibre  like  wool  or  cotton,  possessing  only 
their  beaks  for  shuttles,  and  using  them  with  great  activity 
in  order  to  interlace  the  fine  stems  of  the  grasses,  and  form 
a  sort  of  textile  fabric  which  is  very  thick  and  very  difficult 
to  tear. 

The  tissue,  notwithstanding  its  complicated  character,  is 
made  very  rapidly,  the  workman  passing  and  repassing  its 
beak  with  extreme  swiftness  through  its  substance,  so  as 
densely  to  interlace  all  the  fibres.  One  never  tires  contem- 
plating the  dexterity  it  displays.  These  winged  workers 
construct  different  kinds  of  dwellings.  Some  consist  of  a 
sort  of  purse,  having  in  the  interior  a  little  pannier  affixed 
to  its  sides,  in  which  the  female  places  her  brood.  In  this 
case  the  entrance  is  frequently  situated  at  the  lower  part, 
which  represents  a  kind  of  wide-mouthed  funnel,  by  which 
the  wedded  pair  enter  and  leave  the  family  mansion :  this 
is  the  method  adopted  by  some  Troopials.  Others  are  sim- 
ply long  and  wide  sacks,  with  one  or  more  openings,  sus- 
pended to  the  branches  of  trees. 

On  this  account  the  name  of  weavers  has  been  given  to  a 
tribe  of  sparrows  remarkable  for  the  perfection  of  their 


290 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


work,  but  other  birds  imitate  their  industry,  although  they 
belong  to  different  families. 

Some  weavers,  less  skilful,  content  themselves  with  twist- 
ing grass  rudely  together,  and  forming  a  little  cup  of  it,  in 
which  the  female  lies  deeply  ensconced.  It  is  in  this  that 


]39.  Nest  of  the  Fondia  erythrops  (Bonaparte).     From  the  Rouen  Museum. 

she  carefully  hatches   her   eggs.      The  Fondia  erythrops 
builds  one  of  these  nests  of  imperfect  tissue. 

The  Cassicans  and  the  Baltimore  Oriole  deserve  to  be 
mentioned  in  the  first  rank  among  another  kind  of  work- 
men, on  account  of  the  large  bag-shaped  nests  which  they 
hang  to  the  trees,  and  in  which  they  rear  their  young. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


293 


The  nests  of  the  Crested  Cassican  (C.  cristatus)  are  built 
of  dry  grass,  and  resemble  very  long  sacks  bulging  out  at 
the  base,  having  an  entrance  in  the  form  of  a  slit  of  con- 


141.  Nest  of  the  Baltimore  Oriole:  Icterus  Baltimore. 

siderable  length,  situated  above  and  placed  laterally  in  such 
a  manner  that  the  rain  runs  over  the  edges,  and  cannot 
penetrate  into  the  interior  of  this  vast  family  domicile. 


294  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The?e  nests  are  sometimes  more  than  two  yards  long. 
They  are  fastened  to  the  branches  of  trees,  and  from  a  dis- 
tance look  like  strange  fruits  of  enormous  size.  Thus  when 
the  birds  are  numerous  in  a  district,  and  they  build  a  great 
number  of  nests,  these,  suspended  in  the  midst  of  the  foli- 
age of  the  trees,  impart  to  the  intertropical  landscape  an 
'aspect  very  peculiar,  and  indeed  unique. 

The  nests  of  the  Baltimore  Oriole  are  shorter,  and  formed 
of  delicately  twisted  down  ;  here  we  have  an  artisan  that 
works  more  elegantly  than  the  other,  and  requires  a 
warmer  and  more  luxurious  bed.  Its  buildings  have  the 
aspect  of  coarsely  knitted  sacks  of  wool  attached  to  the 
branches  by  a  large  surface,  and  having  a  wide  and  rounded 
opening. 


BOOK   VII. 


THE  MIGRATIONS   OF  ANIMALS. 

MANY  animals,  impelled  by  imperious  demands,  or  by  an 
instinctive  irresistible  force,  quit  their  habitual  residence 
at  a  certain  time,  and  direct  their  way  to  distant  regions. 
Such  migrations,  the  object  of  which  eludes  our  observa- 
tion, are  noticed  in  nearly  all  classes  of  the  animal  king- 
dom. Usually  they  are  seen  to  take  place  periodically,  but 
at  other  times  they  only  occur,  as  it  were,  accidentally,  and 
all  at  once  astonish  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  which 
are  the  theatre  of  them,  and  into  which  the  unexpected  in- 
vaders carry  sometimes  devastation,  famine,  and  death. 

At  other  times  it  is  violence  that  compels  legions  of  ani- 
mals to  quit  the  place  where  they  had  established  them- 
selves. In  the  countries  where  man  does  not  decimate 
them,  they  swarm  in  such  abundance,  and  are  so  crowded 
together,  that  one  can  scarcely  understand  how  they  exist ; 
their  numbers  are  alarming.  The  pictures  that  Livingstone 
has  drawn  of  the  exuberance  of  game  in  wild  districts  of 
Central  Africa,  and  in  particular  on  the  banks  of  the  Zam- 
besi, suffice  to  give  us  an  idea  of  the  fecundity  of  nature. 
But  this  very  fecundity  is  fatal  to  the  weak  tribes ;  the 
stronger  ones,  getting  the  upper  hand,  drive  them  away  or 


296  THE    UNIVERSE. 

annihilate  them.  They  have  no  choice  left,  and  thus 
forced  migrations  arise. 

Civilization  proceeds  in  the  same  manner.  Animals  dis- 
appear as  it  advances.  It  drives  them  back,  or  utterly  de- 
stroys them.  Many  large  species  which  found  shelter  in 
the  former  forests  of  Gaul,  the  aurochs  and  others,  have 
vanished  from  our  land.  We  only  find  now  the  crumbling 
bones  of  these  wild  mammals  which  our  sturdy  forefathers 
hunted. 

When  animals  perform  their  journeys  annually  we  ob- 
serve an  amount  of  order  and  foresight  which  are  not  seen 
in  erratic  migrations.  During  these  latter  the  whole  colony 
sometimes  expires,  overcome  by  the  elements  or  hunger; 
not  a  single  individual  ever  sees  again  the  country  which 
the  tribe  quitted  in  innumerable  columns.  In  the  former, 
on  the  contrary,  instructed  by  an  experience  from  which  all 
profit,  the  journey  is  performed  with  a  degree  of  order  that 
fills  us  with  astonishment. 

The  arrangement  observed  by  wild  geese  in  traversing 
the  air,  when  they  are  making  their  way  to  a  distant  coun- 
try, shows  that  they  possess  a  certain  power  of  mental  com- 
bination. They  are  placed  one  behind  the  other  in  two 
long  oblique  lines,  which  form  an  acute  angle  in  front,  the 
most  suitable  form  for  cleaving  the  air.  And  as  the  in- 
dividual placed  at  the  head  of  the  phalanx  exerts  himself 
more  than  the  others  to  open  the  path,  he  is  observed,  so 
soon  as  he  finds  himself  fatigued,  to  drop  behind  and  take 
the  last  place,  while  another  succeeds  to  his. 

I  thought  there  was  perhaps  more  poetry  than  truth  in 
what  the  old  naturalists  have  related  on  this  head,  but  hav- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  297 

ing,  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  frequently  seen  flocks  of 
geese  traverse  the  air  on  their  route  to  Nubia,  I  was 
enabled  to  verify  the  accuracy  of  their  narrations. 

I  have  also  observed  that  when  these  travellers,  worn 
out  with  fatigue,  rested  at  different  places  on  the  banks  of 
the  river,  there  were  placed  all  around  the  dense  crowd  of 
sleeping  birds  motionless  sentinels,  which,  with  watchful  ear 
and  keen  lookout,  carefully  scanned  the  neighborhood,  and 
gave  the  alarm  to  the  whole  camp  so  soon  as  an  enemy  ap- 
proached. Our  hunters  tried  to  surprise  them,  but  always 
in  vain.  Long  before  they  were  within  gun-shot,  these  vig- 
ilant sentries  were  seen  to  raise  their  necks,  watch  those 
approaching,  hesitate  a  few  moments,  beating  their  wings, 
and  then  with  a  low  cry  take  wing,  when  all  the  troop  of 
emigrants  followed. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  probable  that  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
more  skilful  than  we  are,  succeeded  in  capturing  these 
travelling  bands.  In  fact,  among  the  paintings  or  hiero- 
glyphs on  the  monuments  of  the  Pharaohs,  we  frequently 
find  represented  wild-goose  fowling  with  the  net,  and  peo- 
ple carrying  these  birds  in  panniers  to  market  for  sale. 
Lepsius,  in  his  beautiful  work  on  Egypt,  has  reproduced 
some  of  these  fowling  scenes  from  the  paintings  and  bas- 
reliefs  of  Beni-Hassan  and  the  great  pyramids  of  Gizeh. 

Some  insects,  when  they  remove  from  their  dwellings, 
observe  a  degree  of  order  which  is  no  less  remarkable. 
One  species  of  the  order  Lepidoptera  has  become  celebrated 
on  account  of  the  law  which  its  larvae  constantly  follow 
during  their  peregrinations.  When  the  troop  issues  from 
the  lair  or  sack  in  which  the  whole  family  have  been 


298 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


sheltered  in  a  mass,  one  caterpillar  marches  at  the  head ; 
then  come  two  ;  after  that  three ;  next  four  abreast,  the 
squadrons  always  augmenting  and  marching  regularly  one 
after  the  other.  Their  files,  which  sometimes  stretch  out 
for  a  length  of  thirty  to  forty  feet,  in  this  way  make  nu- 
merous windings  over  the  downs  and  roads,  imitating  the 
order  of  a  procession  in  movement.  This  has  procured  for 
the  butterfly  which  gives  birth  to  this  dangerous  cohort  the 


142.  Catching  Wild  Geese.    From  a  painting  in  the  Subterranean  Temples  of  Beni-Hassan. 
Lepsius,  "Monuments  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia." 

name  of  Processionary  Bombyx.  When  they  are  en- 
countered, it  is  necessary  to  let  them  alone,  for  neither  man 
nor  animal  can  disturb  their  march,  or  even  aproach  them 
without  being  severely  punished  for  it.  The  hairs  which 
cover  these  caterpillars  become  detached  during  their  evo- 
lutions, and  float  all  about  the  army  ;  it  is  extremely  dan- 
gerous to  inhale  them,  for  when  any  enter  the  lungs  an 
obstinate  and  distressing  cough  immediately  ensues,  which 
goes  to  the  verge  of  suffocation. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  299 

An  irresistible  desire  to  change  their  locality  or  country 
is  usually  seen  only  in  animals  in  the  full  flush  of  strength. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  also  observed  in  certain  young  creatures 
just  hatched.  This  takes  place  in  spring  among  the  eels. 
The  progeny  of  this  fish,  the  life-history  of  which  is  not  yet 
fully  unravelled,  pass  up  our  rivers  at  this  time  in  such  com- 
pact swarms  that  all  the  travellers  seem  to  touch  each 
other ;  anything  like  numbering  them  would  be  impossible. 

Near  the  steep  banks  of  the  Seine  these  young  eels  form 
a  band  quite  a  yard  wide,  which  sometimes  takes  more  than 
a  week  to  pass  the  neighborhood  of  Rouen,  and  after  that 
time  these  millions  of  animals  suddenly  disappear  without 
leaving  any  trace.  Whence  does  this  animated  milky  way 
reach  us,  and  what  becomes  of  this  diaphanous  and  scarcely 
developed  brood  ?  This  is  as  yet  an  impenetrable  secret.1 

Our  commercial  relations  with  distant  countries  also  favor 
•the  migrations  of  certain  animals,  but  still  not  to  such  an 
extent  as  one  might  be  tempted  to  think.  Transported  to 
a  strange  climate,  they  mostly  die  :  the  cold  freezes  some, 
the  heat  suffocates  others.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  in 
European  ports  some  serpent  or  spider  from  tropical  coun- 
tries, which  our  ships  have  disembarked  along  with  their 
cargoes  of  dyewoods.  But  stupefied  by  the  want  of  sunshine 
these  exiles  soon  die,  regretting  their  happier  country. 

1  According  to  M.  Coste,  a  single  pound  of  the  fry  contains  about  1800  little 
eels.  This  progeny,  looking  like  thread-worms,  inspires  some  persons  with  disgust. 
In  some  countries  they  are  fished  for  by  torchlight  and  used  for  food.  In  Caen, 
where  this  takes  place,  the  fry  is  sold  in  the  markets  and  streets  in  large  buckets. 
Its  price  varies  according  to  the  yield  of  the  fishery  ;  generally  it  is  sold  at  about 
a  franc  a  quart.  It  is  eaten  in  different  ways,  prepared  with  white  sauce,  fried, 
and  even  made  into  pates. 


300  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

MIGRATIONS    OF   MAMMALS. 

GENERALLY  speaking,  heavy  and  bulky  mammals  are  not 
prone  to  quit  their  haunts;  travelling  is  difficult  to  them, 
and  being  sufficiently  powerful  not  to  fear  any  enemy,  they 
rest  peacefully  quartered  in  spots  where  suitable  food  is 
found.  This  is  the  case  with  the  great  aquatic  herbivorous 
animals,  which  require  two  essential  conditions  in  one  and 
the  same  place,  —  food  and  water.  Where  these  exist  they 
found  a  colony. 

Such  are  the  Hippopotami,  which  are  found  living  in 
numerous  and  peaceful  families  in  the  rivers  of  Central 
Africa.  There,  giving  themselves  up  to  all  the  happiness  of 
a  tranquil  life,  some  bathe  or  play  amid  the  tall  herbage;' 
whilst  the  mothers  tenderly  carry  their  little  ones  on  their 
backs  at  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  numerous  tribe  of  kangaroos  are  equally  attached  to 
their  native  soil.  Their  disproportionately  long  hind-legs, 
it  is  true,  enable  them  to  leap  with  great  agility,  but  their 
fore-feet  are  too  small  to  allow  of  long  journeys.  And  be- 
sides this,  the  virgin  soil  of  Australia  always  provides  them 
with  abundant  nourishment  in  the  midst  of  its  lofty  herb- 
age. 

The  most  remarkable  thing  is  that  those  mammals  which 
seem  endowed  with  the  greatest  facilities  for  moving  from 
place  to  place  are  precisely  those  which  lead  the  most  re- 
stricted life  in  this  respect.  We  mean  the  bats,  which,  al- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  301 

though  they  possess  wings  large  enough,  are  never  known 
to  quit  the  site  they  have  chosen.  Thus  the  Nycteris  of 
Upper  Egypt,  which  can  make  itself  exceedingly  buoyant 
by  filling  with  air  certain  pouches  under  its  skin,  scarcely 
quits  the  sombre  windings  of  the  pyramids  and  temples  of 
ancient  Egypt,  where  it  sometimes  swarms  in  such  numbers 
as  to  extinguish,  when  flitting  about,  the  torches  carried  by 
the  travellers. 

But  some  mammals,  though  placed  in  circumstances  much 
less  favorable  than  other  animals,  nevertheless  effect  migra- 
tions, the  magnitude  of  which  and  the  intelligence  they 
display  awaken  astonishment  and  admiration. 

Nothing  presents  a  more  imposing  spectacle  than  the  im- 
mense troops  of  buffaloes  which  traverse  the  prairies  of  the 
Far  West  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States.  When  the 
time  appointed  by  the  decree  of  Providence  arrives,  one  of 
these  savage  mammals  constitutes  himself  chief  of  the  emi- 
grating troop.  His  roars  resound,  and  he  soon  gathers  round 
him  a  formidable  troop,  ready  to  follow  him  across  the  wil- 
derness. "  When  the  moment  arrives/'  says  Chateaubriand, 
"  the  leader,  shaking  his  mane,  which  hangs  from  every  part 
over  his  eyes  and  curving  horns,  salutes  the  setting  sun  by 
lowering  his  head  and  lifting  up  his  back  like  a  mountain  ; 
at  the  same  time  a  dull  sound,  the  signal  of  departure,  issues 
from  his  deep  chest,  and  then  all  at  once  he  plunges  into 
the  foaming  waves,  followed  by  the  multitude  of  heifers  and 
bulls  which  roar  lovingly  after  him." 

The  migrations  of  the  squirrels,  which  fill  with  life  the 
forests  of  old  Scandinavia,  if  less  noisy,  are  marked  by  more 
ingenuity. 


302 


'ERSE. 


Whilst  the  formidable  buffaloes  overturn  everything  that 
lies  in  their  way,  colonies  of  squirrels,  timid  and  silent,  run 
a  thousand  risks  in  order  to  establish  themselves  far  from 
their  natal  soil.  Travellers  assure  us  that  in  America  and 
Lapland,  when  a  river  checks  their  passage,  each  member 
of  the  wandering  family  transforms  some  fragment  of  wood 


143.  Nycteris  of  Upper  Egypt:  Nycteris  Geoffroyi  (Desmarest). 

or  bark  into  a  raft,  displays  its  large  tail  to  the  wind,  by 
way  of  sail,  and  the  little  living  flotilla,  carried  by  the 
breath  of  the  zephyr,  thus  reaches  the  opposite  bank.1 

1  Linnaeus  himself  seems  to  believe  in  this  remarkable  migration  of  squirrels. 
Regnard  observed  the  fact  during  his  travels  in  Lapland.  "  When  it  is  neces- 
sary," he  says,  "  to  pass  some  lake  or  river,  as  happens  at  every  step  in  Lap- 
land, these  little  animals  take  the  bark  of  a  pine  or  birch-tree,  which  they  drag 
to  the  brink  of  the  water  ;  they  then  set  themselves  upon  it,  and  abandon  them- 
selves to  the  mercy  of  the  wind,  erecting  their  tails  like  sails.  Sometimes  the 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  303 

These  pretty  mammals  of  Lapland,  the  lemmings,  which 
are  not  much  larger  than  mice,  accomplish  still  more  ex- 
traordinary and  daring  migrations.  At  a  certain  period  of 
the  year  these  adventurers,  urged  by  a  mysterious  instinct, 
descend  from  the  mountains  in  troops  so  numerous  that 
over  considerable  spaces  of  country  the  face  of  the  land  is 
absolutely  covered  by  the  compact  moving  army.  Always 
advancing  without  halt  or  pause,  no  obstacle  checks  them, 
—  neither  rivers,  lakes,  nor  arms  of  the  sea ;  a  hundred 
enemies  decimate  them,  a  hundred  dangers  threaten  them, 
but  nothing  stays  their  course  ;  the  long  living  lines  formed 


144.  Lemming :    Myodes  Itmmus. 

by  their  troops  advance  just  the  same  towards  the  spot  they 
fatally  wish  to  reach. 

Astonished  at  the  sudden  irruption  of  these  innumerable 
legions  of  rodents,  which  devastate  everything  in  their  path, 
the  rude  inhabitants  of  the  North  believe  that  this  plague 

wind,  becoming  too  strong,  overturns  both  the  ship  and  the  pilot.  This  ship- 
wreck, which  very  often  overwhelms  3000  or  4000  vessels,  generally  brings  an 
extraordinary  influx  of  wealth  to  those  Laplanders  who  find  the  remains  on 
the  shore,  and  who,  if  the  little  animals  have  not  been  too  long  on  the  sand, 
make  use  of  them  for  food,  etc.  Many  of  these  animals  make  a  successful  voyage 
and  arrive  safe  in  harbor,  provided  the  wind  be  favorable  and  not  strong  enough 
to  raise  any  waves,  which  need  not  be  violent  in  order  to  engulf  these  little  craft. 
This  singular  performance  might  be  considered  as  a  fable  if  I  had  not  witnessed 
it  myself."  —  Regnard,  Voyage  en  Lapponie.  Paris.,  1820,  j).  202. 


304  THE   UNIVERSE. 

falls  from  heaven.  It  is  particularly  when  a  premature 
winter  produces  a  dearth  in  the  high-lying  districts  that  the 
lemmings  reach  the  lower  lands. 

These  emigrants  are  all  animated  with  an  amount  of 
courage  one  would  not  expect  to  find  in  such  puny  crea- 
tures. They  advance  in  a  straight  line,  climb  rocks,  pass 
rivers  by  swimming,  and  defend  themselves  against  every 
one  who  attacks  them.  Even  man  himself,  when  he  bars 
their  way,  does  not  alarm  them,  and  they  will  bite  his  stick 
with  their  feeble  teeth. 

When  the  departure  coincides  with  the  birth  of  the  young, 
maternal  love  effects  prodigies ;  each  mother  takes  a  little 
one  in  her  mouth,  and  carries  another  on  her  back. 

But  so  much  courage,  energy,  and  perseverance  generally 
end  only  in  disasters.  The  emigrants  leave  behind  them  a 
long  line  of  corpses ;  very  few  ever  see  their  mountains 
again.  Many  become  the  prey  of  foxes,  fish,  and  carnivo- 
rous birds ;  others  perish  in  the  midst  of  the  waves,  or  are 
decimated  by  hunger  and  fatigue ;  sometimes  even  death 
mows  them  down  in  such  prodigious  numbers  that  the  very 
air  is  infected  with  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 

MIGRATIONS    OF   BIRDS. 

No  animals  display  so  much  power  and  instinct  in  their 
distant  excursions  as  birds ;  their  migrations  are  really  some- 
thing marvellous.  It  is  only  by  the  aid  of  accurate  instru- 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  305 

ments  and  knotty  calculations  that  the  sailor  trusts  himself 
upon  the  sea  ;  whereas  our  winged  travellers,  without  guide 
or  compass,  and  without  ever  losing  their  way,  transport 
themselves  from  the  polar  circle  to  the  tropical  regions. 
The  cranes  pass  the  summer  on  the  stormy  strands  of  Scan- 
dinavia, and  the  winter  amid  the  ruins  of  the  palaces  of  the 
Pharaohs. 

The  mechanism  of  birds  is  admirably  suited  to  aid  their 
rapid  flight.  Their  aerial  oars,  moved  by  muscles  of  ex- 
traordinary power,  easily  adapt  themselves  to  all  the  haz- 
ards of  their  flight  through  the  elevated  regions  of  air. 
There  are  birds,  as  the  swallow,  for  instance,  to  which  flight 
is  so  easy  that  they  seem  to  make  a  sport  of  it.  A  passive 
force  further  assists  their  suspension  in  the  plains  of  the  at- 
mosphere ;  air,  rarefied  by  the  warmth  of  the  body,  pene- 
trates into  all  its  cavities,  and  even  to  the  interior  of  the 
bones.  Rendered  thus  specifically  lighter,  like  Montgolfier 
balloons  filled  with  warm  gas,  they  float  without  effort  amid 
the  clouds.  Such  is  the  daring  flight  of  the  condors  which 
launch  themselves  from  the  frozen  summits  of  the  Andes 
towards  the  sky,  and  soon  disappear  from  sight,  without 
one's  being  able  to  explain  how  they  can  breathe  so  rarefied 
an  atmosphere. 

The  bird,  though  endowed  with  such  a  slight  frame,  nev- 
ertheless surpasses  in  strength  the  ponderous  engines  which 
glide  along  our  railroads.  Its  vessels  and  fibres,  notwith- 
standing their  wonderful  delicacy,  work  and  resist  more 
energetically  than  our  heavy  wheel-work  and  cast-iron 
tubes  ;  in  the  one  is  seen  the  finger  of  God,  in  the  other 
only  the  genius  of  man  !  Launched  like  an  arrow  into  space, 


306 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


the  bird,  playing  the  while,  silently  clears  twenty  leagues 
an  hour.    A  locomotive  going  at  high  pressure,  enveloped  in 


145.  Crane's  Nest  on  an  Egyptian  Monument. 

fire  and  smoke,  attains  the  same  speed  only  by  consuming 
heaps  of  coke  and  water  amid  the  infernal  uproar  of  its 
wheels  and  pistons. 


146.  The  Condor,  or  Great  Vulture  of  the  Andes :  Vultur  gryphus  (Linnaeus). 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  309 

According  to  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  the  sea-mews  which  nestle 
on  the  rocks  of  Barbadoes  take  every  day  a  journey  over 
the  sea  of  130  leagues,  to  amuse  themselves  and  seek  for 
food  on  a  distant  island.  The  animal  thus  casts  in  the  shade 
the  results  of  man's  ingenuity. 

On  their  adventurous  excursions  birds  follow  their  track 
unerringly,  guided  by  sensations  of  an  unknown  nature  and 
of  extreme  delicacy,  among  which  sight  and  smell  play  a 
great  part.  Historians  relate  that  after  the  battle  of  Phar- 
salia  the  putrid  emanations  from  the  dead  heaped  upon  the 
ground  attracted  the  vultures  from  Asia  and  Africa,  which 
came  thither  to  make  their  repast.  It  _is  certain,  according 
to  Humboldt,  that  if  a  horse  or  cow  be  killed  in  the  most 
solitary  passes  of  the  Andes,  where  one  might  think  not 
even  condors  could  exist,  several  of  these  sordid  carnivor- 
ous birds,  attracted  by  the  stench,  are  soon  seen  arriving, 
in  order  to  gorge  themselves  with  the  putrefied  flesh. 

The  migrations  of  certain  birds  are  understood  ;  we  know 
from  whence  they  start,  where  they  halt,  and  where  they 
end  their  journey.  Thus,  for  instance,  in  autumn,  bands  of 
quails  which  are  emigrating  constantly  arrive  exhausted  at 
the  island  of  Malta,  where  they  meet  with  fatal  hospitality. 
They  are  taken  in  swarms  in  the  streets  of  the  town  and  on 
the  roads,  and  as  the  inhabitants  cannot  consume  the  whole 
of  this  living  harvest,  it  is  sent  to  distant  markets.  The 
deck  of  the  ship  in  which  I  left  the  harbor  was  laden  with 
them. 

The  mysterious  emigration  of  the  swallows  has  particu- 
larly occupied  the  attention  of  observers.  Men  could  not 
make  out  what  became  of  these  charming  visitors  when 


310  THE   UNIVERSE. 

they  suddenly  disappeared,  and  not  long  ago  the  strangest 
suppositions  were  indulged  in  on  this  head. 

As  these  birds  in  autumn  seek  their  insect  prey  in  the 
fens,  and  seem  to  plunge  into  them,  it  was  for  a  long  time 
believed  that  they  buried  themselves  in  the  mud,  to  issue 
again  with  the  return  of  the  spring  warmth,  which  reani- 
mated them  after  a  six  months'  asphyxia.  Olaus  Magnus, 
a  northern  naturalist,  more  erudite  than  observing,  was  the 
first  who  propagated  this  fable,  going  so  far  as  to  maintain 
that  the  Norwegian  fishermen  often  take  in  their  nets  a 
great  number  of  swallows  along  with  the  fish.  It  was  even 
asserted  that  if  the  poor  birds,  all  soiled  with  mud,  soaked 
with  water,  and  stupefied  with  cold,  were  exposed  to  the 
heat  of  a  stove,  they  were  seen  to  become  speedily  dry  and 
return  to  life. 

Linnaeus,  Buffon,  and  even  Cuvier  believed  such  stories! 
Ought  we  to  consider  this  as  a  reproach  to  them,  when  we 
see  that  some  physiologists  of  our  own  time  obstinately 
maintain  that  certain  animals  can  be  reanimated  ? l 

As  the  swallows  have  for  a  long  time  concealed  their 
winter  residence,  it  became  the  subject  of  all  sorts  of  con- 
jectures. Some  naturalists  maintained  that,  instead  of  emi- 
grating to  distant  regions,  they  hid  themselves  and  became 

1  The  idea  that  swallows  winter  in  the  mud  of  our  marshes  was  so  popular  that 
a  German  academy  thought  it  advisable  to  examine  whether  there  was  any  foun- 
dation for  the  opinion  or  not.  This  learned  body  accordingly  proposed  to  give 
their  weight  in  silver  for  all  the  swallows  brought  out  of  the  water,  but  the  prize 
was  never  claimed.  The  most  astonishing  part  of  the  matter  is  to  find  Cuvier  be- 
lieving in  such  a  fable.  In  his  Regne  Animal  he  says,  "  It  appears  certain  that 
swallows  become  torpid  during  winter,  and  even  that  they  pass  this  season  at  the 
bottom  of  the  water  in  the  marshes."  —  Cuvier,  Regne  Animal,  Paris,  1829,  t.  i., 
p.  396. 


147.  The  Ariel  Swallow  (Hirundo  Ariel).    From  Gould. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM:  313 

torpid  in  the  depths  of  some  cave,  just  as  the  bats  do.  One 
of  the  most  reliable  of  these  men,  Larrey  the  surgeon,  men- 
tions having  discovered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Maurienne  a 
grotto,  the  roof  of  which  was  lined  with  a  mass  of  swallows, 
which  kept  themselves  attached  to  it  like  a  swarm  of  bees. 

But  the  experiments  of  Spallanzani  have  destroyed  all 
these  false  creeds.  The  learned  abbe  found  that  the  swal- 
lows which  he  tried  to  throw  into  a  state  of  hibernation  in 
an  ice-house  did  not  become  torpid,  but  died. 

Adanson  has  taught  us  that  the  swallows  betake  them- 
selves to  the  Senegal  during  the  cold  season.  Those  which 
are  scattered  through  our  country  unite  together  at  autumn 
on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  when  an  irresist- 
ible desire  impels  them  to  depart  cross  the  sea  in  numerous 
troops.  Thus,  then,  in  summer  the  swallow  builds  its  nest 
under  the  sumptuous  cornices  of  our  palaces,  and  in  winter 
inhabits  the  huts  of  Senegambia.1 

All  do  not  attain  the  goal  of  their  pilgrimage.  The  waves 
engulf  those  who  have  reckoned  too  much  upon  their 
strength,  unless  some  propitious  rock  or  ship  happen  to  be 

1  Mr.  Charles  Buxton,  who  has  paid  great  attention  to  the  acclimatization  of 
birds,  and  who  appears  to  have  succeeded  wonderfully  with  his  experiments  at 
Northrepps  Hall,  in  the  woods  round  which  live,  winter  and  summer,  African  par- 
rots, Bengal  paroquets,  and  Philippine  Island  lories,  etc.,  lately  read  a  paper  on 
this  subject  at  a  meeting  of  the  British  Association,  in  which  he  stated  his  reasons 
for  believing  that  the  migration  of  birds  "  depends  altogether  on  food,  and  not 
the  fear  of  cold.  Even  the  delicate  little  long-tailed  titmouse  and  still  more  deli- 
cate little  golden-crested  wren  remain  with  us  the  whole  winter  without  appearing 
to  suffer." 

[This  power  of  resisting  cold  Mr.  Buxton  attributes  to  the  impermeable  cover- 
ing of  down  below  the  feather  of  birds,  and  possibly  to  their  having  a  greater  sup- 
ply of  heat  than  other  animals.  —  TR.] 


314  THE   UNIVERSE. 

at  hand  to  lend  them  refuge.  During  one  of  my  voyages 
across  the  Mediterranean,  some  strayed  swallows  happened, 
when  we  were  midway  between  the  two  coasts,  to  fall  totally 
exhausted  on  the  deck  of  the  frigate  which  was  carrying  me 
towards  Africa.  Every  one  on  board,  soldiers  and  sailors, 
overwhelmed  them  with  attentions,  which  they  received 
without  exhibiting  signs  of  fear.  When  they  had  at  last 
recovered  from  their  fatigues,  they  recommenced  their  jour- 
ney towards  the  high  regions  of  Senegal,  and  perchance 
rested  beneath  the  cabins  of  savages  long  ere  we  had  greeted 
the  ports  of  Algeria. 

But  after  long  and  perilous  journeys  these  charming  vis- 
itors of  our  dwellings  return  each  year  with  touching  fidelity 
to  find  their  old  domicile  again.  If  the  rains  and  winds  have 
injured  it,  the  architects  quickly  repair  it  before  making  it 
witness  of  their  loves.  Spallanzani  has  even  noticed  that 
the  feathered  couples  become  strongly  attached  to  their  par- 
ticular nests.  Having  fixed  party-colored  ribbons  to  the 
feet  of  some  of  them,  he  recognized  them  the  year  after, 
when  they  came  to  take  possession  again.  He  saw  them 
return  thus  for  eighteen  successive  summers.  How  many 
among  us  never  enjoy  such  a  long  tenancy ! 

Another  species  of  the  same  group,  the  ariel  swallow, 
fondly  returns  to  its  republic,  formed  of  agglomerated  nests, 
and  more  ingeniously  constructed  than  those  of  our  swallows. 
These  nests  resemble  so  many  wide-necked  bottles  hung  by 
the  bottom  in  inaccessible  places. 

Less  remarkable  for  the  instinct  which  guides  them  than 
for  the  innumerable  multitudes  composing  their  armies,  the 
passenger  pigeons  (Columba  migratoria)  traverse  the  forests 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  315 

of  America  in  such  compact  masses  that  they  absolutely  in- 
tercept the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  cast  a  long  track  of  shadows 
on  the  ground.  Their  compact  columns  extend  over  such  a 
space  that  the  eye  cannot  take  in  the  full  extent  of  it.  It 
has  been  calculated  that  it  is  often  sixty  leagues  in  length. 
The  passing  of  these  columns  sometimes  lasts  three  hours, 
and  as  these  birds  travel  at  the  rate  of  nearly  twenty 
leagues  an  hour  their  army  must  necessarily  extend  over 
fifty  to  sixty  leagues  of  sky. 

This  immense  host  never  travels  by  night ;  so  soon  as  dark- 
ness overtakes  them,  they  precipitate  themselves,  breathless 
and  exhausted,  upon  the  nearest  forest,  there  to  rest  from 
their  fatigues.  Their  legions  alight  in  such  numbers  upon 
the  trees  that  the  great  branches  yield  or  break  beneath 
their  weight.  Soon,  however,  all  the  invaders  are  composed 
to  sleep. 

But  scarcely  are  the  pigeons  installed  there  than  all  the 
able-bodied  people  in  the  country  hasten  to  the  spot,  and 
make  a  complete  carnage  of  them.  The  well-sustained 
noise  and  firing  do  not  in  the  least  interrupt  the  sleep  of 
these  harassed  travellers.  The  victims  fall ;  the  women  and 
children  pick  them  up,  or  even  kill  with  sticks  those  pigeons 
which  have  perched  within  their  reach.  The  yield  is  so 
abundant  that,  not  being  able  to  consume  in  the  locality  all 
the  birds  which  are  killed,  they  are  often  obliged  to  salt  and 
pack  them  in  barrels,  so  that  they  may  be  kept  or  sent  to  a 
distance. 

The  cold  of  winter  drives  most  animals  from  the  Polar 
regions,  and  compels  them  to  withdraw  to  countries  more 
favored  by  the  sun.  The  penguins  of  the  Cape  alone  seem 


316 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


to  evade  this  universal  law.  These  bird-fish,  being  intrepid 
swimmers,  are  most  at  home  in  the  midst  of  the  ices,  or  the 
roaring  waves.  They  only  haunt  the  shores  of  Africa  in 
order  to  scoop  out  their  nests,  hatch  their  eggs,  and  rear 
their  young.  When  the  young  have  become  sufficiently  ro- 
bust to  support  the  fatigues  of  the  journey,  all  these  swim- 


148.  The  Passenger  Pigeon :  Columba  migratoria. 

mers,  mysteriously  obeying  an  instinct  of  which  the  Creator 
alone  knows  the  aim,  suddenly  disappear  from  the  African 
shores,  and  seek,  during  six  months  of  winter,  the  frightful 
regions  of  the  south  pole,  condemned  to  incessant  struggles 
amid  tempests  and  ice.  But  at  the  return  of  spring  the 
penguins  reappear  in  numerous  troops,  and  cover  anew  the 
banks  now  smiling  with  verdure,  grouping  themselves  in 
long  processions,  seemingly  occupied  only  in  revelling  in 


149.  Family  of  Sparkling- Tailed  Humming-Birds :  Typhcena  Dupontl  (Gould). 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  319 

light  and  love.  In  contrast  to  these  pictures  of  the  wander- 
ing life  of  certain  birds  may  be  placed  those  in  which,  not- 
withstanding the  strength  of  their  wings,  these  tenants  of 
the  air  live  almost  entirely  at  home,  only  flitting  round  the 
environs  of  the  site  which  nourishes  them  and  sees^  their 
birth.  Whilst  in  their  daring  flight  some  of  the  wading 
birds  cleave  their  way  through  the  clouds  and  sweep  a 
whole  hemisphere,  a  little  family  of  humming-birds  have 
only  a  rose-bush  for  their  universe.  Like  an  elegant  vase 
ornamented  with  lichens,  the  humming-bird's  downy  nest  of 
cotton  is  balanced  on  the  extremity  of  the  most  slender 
branches  of  the  plant,  whilst  these  aerial  diamonds  make 
prey  of  the  insects  which  the  flowers  attract,  or  drink  the 
pearls  of  dew  which  their  petals  distil.  This  is,  for  instance, 
the  life  of  the  sparkling-tailed  humming-bird  ( Typhcena  Du- 
ponti),  —  a  charming  family  of  which  we  here  give  as  an 
illustration,  taken  from  the  splendid  plates  of  Gould,  the 
prince  of  modern  ornithologists,  both  by  his  scientific  knowl- 
edge and  the  magnificence  of  his  works. 

In  the  same  manner  the  humming-birds,  robed  in  chang- 
ing green,  which  attract  and  charm  all  eyes,  the  "  emeralds 
of  Brazil"  (Chlorostilbon prasinus),  as  they  are  commonly 
called,  set  up  their  family  nests  upon  the  slender  pendent 
steins  of  the  creepers,  from  the  vicinity  of  which  they  rarely 
move.  Rocked  by  the  zephyr,  the  female  broods  tranquilly 
on  her  eggs,  while  her  lord  flits  amorously  near  her.  Here 
are  spent  all  the  happy  days  of  the  gentle  pair. 


320  THE   UNIVERSE. 

• 

CHAPTER  III. 

MIGRATIONS  OF  REPTILES  AND  FISHES.  —  SHOWERS  OF  FROGS. 

EEPTILES  scarcely  ever  carry  out  migrations  on  such  a 
scale  as  to  astonish  one,  either  by  the  number  of  travellers 
or  by  the  space  over  which  they  extend,  but  there  is  one 
fact  in  their  history  which  has  given  rise  to  long  debates, 
and  that  is  the  showers  of  toads  and  frogs,  which  in  reality 
mean  compulsory  migrations. 

Mention  is  made  of  these  in  very  remote  times,  but  later 
writers  generally  believed  that  the  assertions  of  the  authors 
who  related  them  were  inventions.  Modern  observations 
have  at  last  demonstrated  the  actual  existence  of  this  phe- 
nomenon, which  is  explained  nowadays  in  a  very  rational 
manner. 

These  showers  of  frogs  must  have  been  common  enough 
in  ancient  Greece,  seeing  that  Aristotle  gives  them  a  par- 
ticular name.  Alluding  to  the  prevailing  idea  of  his  time, 
which  supposed  them  to  come  from  heaven,  he  called  them 
messengers  of  Jupiter. 

Two  carefully-observed  instances  in  modern  times  have 
especially  wrought  conviction  among  the  learned. 

The  first  was  attested  by  a  whole  company  of  soldiers, 
who,  during  the  Revolution,  were  on  a  march  towards  the 
north  of  France.  In  the  open  country  they  were  assailed 
by  a  shower  of  little  toads,  which  were  dashed  in  their 
faces,  falling  with  torrents  of  water.  Astonished  at  such  an 
unwonted  attack,  and  desirous  of  satisfying  themselves  as  to 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  321 

whether  this  living  shower  came  from  above,  the  soldiers 
spread  out  their  handkerchiefs  on  a  level  with  their  heads, 
and  found  they  were  covered  directly.  After  the  storm, 
the  astonishment  was  general  when  the  soldiers  saw  this 
unexpected  brood  leaping  about  in  the  folds  of  their  cocked 
hats. 

The  second  well-attested  shower  of  toads  fell,  in  1834,  in 
the  town  of  Ham,  when  the  streets,  roofs,  and  gutters  were 
immediately  filled  with  a  great  quantity  of  these  young 
animals. 

As  far  back  as  the  epoch  of  the  Renaissance,  a  celebrated 
physician,  Cardan,  who  brought  out  so  many  strange  hy- 
potheses, nevertheless  hit  upon  the  truth  in  respect  to  this 
phenomenon.  He  supposed  that  the  showers  of  frogs  were 
to  be  attributed  to  water-spouts,  which  carried  these  animals 
off  from  the  mountains,  and  let  them  fall  at  some  distance, 
when  they  burst.  Recently,  when  this  phenomenon  gave 
rise  to  such  great  discussion  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  the 
wise  and  learned  Dumeril  leaned  to  this  opinion.  He  -sup- 
posed that  the  water-spouts,  passing  over  the  fens,  pumped 
up  the  water  as  well  as  all  it  contained,  and  carried  it  off  to 
be  deposited  at  a  distance. 

In  support  of  this  very  rational  hypothesis,  Arago  men- 
tioned that  whirlwinds  often  bear  away  from  the  sea  masses 
of  water,  which  they  let  fall  in  the  form  of  rain  six  or  seven 
leagues  from  the  shore.  Hailstones,  much  larger  than  little 
toads,  are  completely  suspended  for  a  certain  time  in  the 
clouds. 

It  is,  however,  maintained  that,  if  this  opinion  were  cor- 
rect, showers  of  fish  ought  also  to  fall.  In  reply  to  this  ob- 


322  THE    UNIVERSE. 

jection,  several  instances  of  such  a  fact  have  been  cited. 
Authors  mention  showers  of  sticklebacks,  certainly  among 
the  smallest  of  their  kind,  which  live  in  the  pools  and 
streams  of  our  country  districts.  These  fish,  pumped  up 
along  with  the  water  of  some  fen  by  the  suction  of  a  water- 
spout, have  been  seen  to  fall  in  heaps  at  great  distances 
from  the  place  whence  they  were  lifted. 

Thus  modern  science  has  established  the  reality  of  a  phe- 
nomenon advanced  by  antiquity,  and  the  strangeness  of 
which  caused  men  for  a  long  time  to  doubt  it.1 

Among  the  fish  there  are  some  the  migrations  of  which 
have  acquired  great  celebrity,  especially  those  of  the  her- 
ring. It  is  thought  that  the  northern  seas  ought  to  be 
considered  as  the  favorite  residence  of  their  innumerable 
cohorts,  and  that  it  is  from  thence  that  the  long  bands  start 
which  annually  bear  to  Europe  so  much  food,  and  give  such 
an  impulse  to  maritime  commerce.  Their  extreme  fecun- 
dity alone  explains  how  these  fish  subsist,  in  spite  of  the 
enormous  consumption  of  them  during  so  many  ages.  When 
their  wandering  masses  issue  from  the  Polar  seas,  they  are 
said  to  divide  into  two  columns.  One  of  these  advances  to- 

1  Among  the  writers  of  antiquity  who  mention  showers  of  frogs  we  may  men- 
tion Elian,  on  whose  back  one  fell  as  he  was  travelling  from  Naples  to  Pozzuoli. 

The  showers  of  fish  which  have  been  the  subject  of  discussion  were  made  up 
of  very  small  species,  which,  like  frogs,  sometimes  swarm  to  an  extraordinary  ex- 
tent in  the  fens,  so  much  so  that  cart-loads  of  them  are  taken  away  to  manure 
the  ground  and  feed  the  cattle  with.  Those  naturalists  who,  like  Messrs.  Defrance 
and  H.  Cloquet,  maintained  that  showers  of  toads  ought  to  be  ranked  among 
popular  errors  thought  that  these  batrachians,  which  sometimes  appear  in  such 
multitudes  after  a  heavy  shower  that  it  is  impossible  to  set  one's  foot  down  with- 
out crushing  some  of  them,  were  made  up  of  the  young  which  had  lain  hidden  in 
the  clefts  of  the  dry  ground,  and  had  been  driven  out  by  the  rain. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  323 

wards  Iceland,  and  skirts  the  shore  of  America ;  the  other 
takes  an  opposite  direction  along  the  broken  shores  of  Nor- 
way, and  furnishes  a  branch  to  the  Baltic,  whilst  the  mass 
spreads  out  on  the  coasts  of  France  and  Great  Britain.  The 
route  is  so  regular  that  some  authors  have  ventured  to 


150.   Stickleback  in  its  Nest:   Gasterosteus  trachui*us. 

trace  it  out  on  the  geographical  charts  which  accompany 
their  works.1 

1  We  do  not  wish  to  call  in  question  an  opinion  which  is  widely  spread  among 
fishermen,  but  we  must  say  that  these  migrations  are  very  doubtful.  Two  of  the 
most  celebrated  ichthyologists  of  our  epoch,  Bloch  and  Noel,  deny  these  extraor- 
dinary migrations  of  the  herring.  It  is  supposed,  perhaps  on  better  grounds, 
that  this  fish  always  haunts  the  places  where  it  is  seen  only  at  a  certain  period  of 
the  year,  but  that  it  lives  at  the  deepest  parts  of  the  sea,  and  only  comes  to  the 
surface  at  the  period  of  reproduction,  and  for  a  short  time. 

Fishing  in  these  shoals  of  herring  began  at  a  very  remote  period.  In  the  chron- 
icles of  the  monastery  of  Evesham,  which  date  from  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 


324  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  fishermen  recognize  the  presence  of  the  shoals  of 
herrings  at  a  distance  during  the  daytime  by  the  clouds  of 
birds  of  prey  which  accompany  them,  devouring  all  those 
which  approach  the  surface  of  the  waves,  and  at  night  by 
the  long  luminous  track  which  stretches  over  the  surface  of 
the  sea  as  far  as  the  migration  extends. 

The  tunny  and  mackerel  also  perform  similar  voyages. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MIGRATIONS    OF   INSECTS. 

THE  greatest  depredators  on  our  globe  are  not  the  huge 
bisons,  the  roar  of  which  shakes  the  desert,  nor  the  winged 
invaders  which  devastate  our  forests ;  they  are  the  puny 

century,  we  find  them  already  mentioned.  Different  documents  show  that  in  the 
eleventh  century  men  pursued  this  calling  in  France.  At  one  time  the  principal 
source  of  the  wealth  and  maritime  power  of  Holland  lay  in  the  herring  fishery. 
This  nation  was  so  sensible  of  the  fact  that  a  statue  was  reared  to  Beukels,  who 
taught  the  art  of  salting  this  fish,  and  whose  memory  was  honored  by  a  visit 
which  Charles  V.  paid  to  his  tomb.  At  the  time  when  this  fishery  was  most 
flourishing,  the  Batavian  republic  sent  yearly  2000  ships  to  it,  and  employed 
more  than  400,000  souls  in  equipping  the  fleet  and  in  the  fish-trade.  The  Dutch 
estimated  the  advantages  it  brought  them  so  highly  that  they  expressed  their 
feelings  in  a  popular  proverb  :  Amsterdam,  they  used  to  say,  is  built  upon  herring- 
heads.  A  prodigious  quantity  of  these  fish  is  taken  every  year  for  the  use  of  Eu- 
rope alone.  To  the  north  of  Bergen  from  500,000  to  600,000  barrels  are  caught 
yearly,  equivalent  to  more  than  300  million  fish.  As  many  as  659,000  tons  of 
herrings  are  caught  off  Norway  in  a  single  season,  the  export  of  which  brings  to 
the  country  £400,000. 

[In  1873  there  were  caught  off  the  coast  of  Scotland,  and  cured,  939,233  bar- 
rels of  herrings  ;  and  as  each  barrel  contains  700  fish,  the  number  of  herrings 
taken  and  cured  would  amount  to  above  657  millions.  — TR.] 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  325 

insects  which  the  wrath  of  Jehovah  disperses  over  the  earth 
to  make  manifest  his  power. 

Such  is  the  wandering  locust  (Acridium  peregrinum),  one 
of  the  most  terrible  scourges  of  agriculture.  In  Africa  and 
Asia  it  appears  in  such  masses  that  when  they  are  seen  ad- 
vancing at  a  distance  they  resemble  immense  black  clouds, 
which  intercept  the  solar  rays  and  plunge  the  country  in 
the  most  profound  darkness.  A  formidable  sound,  which 
Forskal  compares  to  that  of  a  cataract,  announces  the  ar- 
rival of  these  redoubtable  insects.  When  they  alight  upon 
the  ground  they  form  a  living  sheet  more  than  a  foot  thick, 
and  when,  worn  out  by  fatigue,  they  pile  themselves  upon 
the  trees  the  branches  bend  and  break  under  their  weight. 
The  entire  track  of  these  devouring  insects  seems  to  have 
been  wasted  by  a  fire ;  not  a  trace  of  verdure  is  seen  on  it. 

Human  skill  is  inadequate  to  exorcise  this  pest.  In  vain 
do  armies  and  people  rise  en  masse  to  arrest  these  terrible 
devastators.  All  efforts  fail.  And  if  death  overtake  these 
famished  guests,  their  corpses,  heaped  up  on  the  soil,  exhale 
pestilential  vapors ;  mortality  succeeds  to  ruin,  and  men 
perish  by  thousands. 

These  terrible  emigrations  have  been  observed  in  all 
epochs  of  history.  Moses  teaches  us  that  at  the  voice  of  the 
Eternal  locusts  covered  all  the  land  of  Egypt,  devoured  the 
crops,  and  even  invaded  the  palaces  of  the  Pharaohs.  Pliny 
says  that  in  Africa  some  countries  have  even  been  depopu- 
lated by  their  ravages.  The  alarm  they  occasion  drew  from 
St.  Jerome  these  words :  "  What  is  there  stronger  and  more 
terrible  than  locusts  ?  All  human  industry  cannot  withstand 
them.  God  alone  regulates  their  march." 


326  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Modern  history  has  had  only  too  often  to  register  these 
disastrous  visitations.  One  of  them,  which  obscured  the 
sun  like  a  hurricane,  checked  the  passage  of  Charles  XII. 's 


151.  Migrating  Locust:  Awidium  peregrinum. 

army  when  he  was  crossing  Bessarabia,  and  compelled  him 
to  arrest  his  march.1 

1  The  historian  of  Charles  XII.  speaks  in  the  following  terms  of  the  invasion 
of  locusts  which  arrested  the  march  of  this  monarch's  army  :  "  A  horrible  swarm 
of  locusts  arose  generally  each  day  before  noon  on  the  side  towards  the  sea;  first 
in  little  waves,  and  then  in  clouds,  which  darkened  the  air  and  made  it  so  sombre 
and  thick  that  all  over  this  vast  plain  the  sun  appeared  entirely  eclipsed.  These 
insects  did  not  fly  near  the  ground,  but  kept  at  about  the  same  height  as  we  see 
the  swallows,  till  they  saw  a  field  upon  which  they  could  alight.  We  often  met 
them  on  the  way,  when  they  rose  up  with  a  sound  like  that  of  a  tempest.  Sub- 
sequently they  fell  upon  us  like  a  storm,  threw  themselves  upon  the  very  plain 
•where  we  were,  and  without  any  apparent  dread  of  being  crushed  by  the  hoofs  of 
the  horses  they  rose  from  the  ground,  and  so  covered  our  bodies  and  faces  that 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  327 

In  every  age  man  has  attempted  to  repel  these  formida- 
ble invasions.  In  ancient  times  severe  laws  ordained  the 
massacre  of  the  wandering  insects.  In  the  island  of  Lem- 
nos,  each  private  person  was  compelled  to  bring  to  the 
magistrate  a  certain  number  of  measures  of  locusts  as  an- 
nual tribute.  Pliny  relates  that  in  Cyrenaica  the  law  even 
compelled  the  people  to  make  an  exterminating  war  upon 
them  three  days  per  year.  Any  citizen  who  refused  was 
punished  as  a  deserter. 

The  old  naturalist  maintains  that  in  Syria  the  Roman 
legions  were  sometimes  employed  for  this  purpose.  A 
similar  course  has  been  adopted  on  various  occasions  in 
modern  times. 

M.  Virey  tells  us  that  in  Transylvania  recourse  was  had 
to  soldiers  for  the  same  purpose.  Entire  regiments  collected 
locusts,  and  1500  men  were  occupied  solely  in  crushing, 
burning,  and  burying  the  living  harvest.  This  happened  in 
1780,  but  the  year  following  the  pest  reappeared,  and  its 
ravages  assumed  such  proportions  that,  in  order  to  combat 
it,  they  were  obliged  to  call  out  the  entire  population.  Not- 
withstanding this,  a  large  number  of  districts  were  utterly 
ruined. 

Ibrahim  Pacha  more  recently  employed  his  whole  army 

we  could  not  see  before  us  till  we  had  passed  the  place  where  they  were.  Wher- 
ever these  locusts  rested  they  made  frightful  havoc,  devouring  every  green  thing 
to  the  very  roots,  so  that,  instead  of  the  beautiful  verdure  with  which  the  country 
was  formerly  covered,  only  a  dry  and  sandy  land  could  be  seen.  No  one  would 
have  believed  that  so  small  an  animal  could  cross  the  sea,  if  experience  had  not 
so  often  convinced  those  poor  people  of  the  fact;  yet,  after  having  passed  a  small 
arm  of  the  Euxine  Sea,  these  insects  traverse  great  provinces,  where  they  de- 
stroy everything  they  meet  with,  and  even  gnaw  the  doors  of  the  houses."  —  His- 
toire  MUUaire  de  Charles  XII.,  t.  iv.,  p.  160. 


328 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


in  crushing  one  of  their  armies  and  destroying  the  pestilen- 
tial remains.  The  great  captain  braved  the  hottest  sun, 
while  stimulating  the  zeal  of  his  soldiers  by  his  presence.1 

In  portions  of  the  United  States  beyond  the  Mississippi 
Kiver,  large  sections,  comprising  whole  States,  have  been 
ravaged  by  innumerable  swarms  of  grasshoppers,  which 
devoured  every  green  thing,  grass,  foliage,  growing  crops, 
and  left  the  country  as  bare  as  if  a  fire  had  swept  over  it, 
and  the  unhappy  farmers  dependent  for  their  very  food 
upon  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  more  fortunate  else- 
where. 

1  But  although  the  migrating  locust  must  be  considered  one  of  the  greatest 
scourges  to  agriculture,  it  still  renders  certain  services  to  man.  From  the  re- 
motest antiquity  he  has  used  it  for  food,  and  this  practice  is 
kept  up  in  many  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa,  where  quantities  are 
consumed.  In  the  Bible  days  the  Jews  doubtless  ate  it  exten- 
sively, seeing  that  Moses  mentions  four  species,  the  use  of  which 
was  permitted  by  law. 

[Among  the  ancient  Assyrians  the  locust  was  also  an  article 
of  food.  On  the  sculptures  from  Kouyunjik  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  men  are  represented  bearing  dried  locusts  fastened  on 
sticks.  The  annexed  engraving  shows  the  hands  of  one  of  them 
with  the  sticks  of  locusts.] 

There  are  countries  where  enormous  quantities  of  locusts  are 
still  eaten.  In  the  markets  of  Bagdad  they  compete  with  meat. 
In  Arabia  they  are  dried,  ground,  and  substituted  for  flour  in  the 
preparation  of  bread.  In  1693,  Germany  being  desolated  by  an 
invasion  of  these  insects,  some  of  the  inhabitants  ate  them,  and 
were  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  their  flesh  is  analogous  to 
that  of  crayfish,  and  of  a  very  agreeable  flavor. 

At  the  present  time  the  Bushmen,  one  of  the  most  degraded  of  the  human 
races,  living  in  a  country  which  is  utterly  naked,  the  greatest  part  of  them  never 
having  seen  a  tree,  people  who  have  neither  huts  nor  dress,  subsist  almost  en- 
tirely on  locusts.  These  insects,  which  Livingstone  even  considers  as  a  benefit 
conferred  by  Providence,  and  the  exquisite  taste  of  which  he  praises,  are  their 
favorite  food.  ' 


152. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  .      329 

Other  insects  are  less  remarkable  for  their  number  than 
for  the  order  which  regulates  their  migrations ;  they  act  as 
prudently  as  an  army  in  the  field.  An  intelligent  leader 
seems  to  direct  all  their  movements,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
excursions  of  the  travelling  termite.  When  a  body  of  these 
insects  undertakes  a  distant  journey,  they  advance  in  a 
straight  line,  and  all  the  workers  march  in  columns  of  ten 
to  fifteen  individuals,  as  compactly  as  a  flock  of  sheep. 
During  this  time  those  termites  that  are  armed  with  strong 
mandibles,  and  play  the  part  of  soldiers,  spread  themselves 
out  like  reconnoitrers  on  each  side  of  the  main  body,  in 
order  to  guard  it  against  every  attack.  Should  a  plant 
more  elevated  than  the  others  lie  in  the  way  of  the  emi- 
grants, the  soldiers  may  be  seen  climbing  to  the  highest 
leaves,  and  resting  suspended  there  like  so  many  sentries 

V 

charged  with  the  office  of  watching  the  route.  Should  any 
danger  arise,  these  soldiers,  by  striking  the  leaves  with  their 
feet,  produce  a  clicking  noise ;  a  signal  that  agitates  the 
entire  army,  which  replies  by  hissing,  and  immediately  after 
redoubles  its  pace  with  fresh  ardor. 

In  juxtaposition  with  these  emigrating  insects,  we  ought 
to  mention  those  which,  without  executing  adventurous 
journeys,  suddenly  appear  in  compact  masses,  and  become 
for  a  time  the  scourge  of  our  fields. 

One  of  these  voracious  depredators  is  the  May-bug,  so 
common  in  France.  In  his  magnificent  work  on  the  ene- 
mies of  woodland  culture,  M.  Ratzeburg  does  not  hesitate 
to  represent  it  as  the  most  terrible  destroyer  of  our  planta- 
tions. The  annals  of  agriculture  abound  with  melancholy 
details  of  the  ravages  caused  by  this  insect.  It  is  some- 


330  THE    UNIVERSE. 

times  seen  to  devour  in  a  very  short  time  all  the  foliage  of 
a  vast  extent  of  forest.  I  was  enabled  to  observe  one  of 
these  devastations  in  a  wood  in  the  department  of  the  Seine- 
InfeVieure.  All  the  trees  had  been  utterly  despoiled  of  their 
verdure  ;  not  a  leaf,  strictly  speaking,  hung  on  one  of  them ; 
and  in  this  forest,  which  we  traversed  in  the  middle  of 
summer,  we  might  have  thought  ourselves  in  midwinter, 
had  not  the  burning  sun,  striking  through  the  bare  branches, 
scorched  us  with  his  rays. 

The  May-bugs  often  quit  the  forests  in  order  to  attack  the 
fields.  In  1574  they  swarmed  so  on  the  coasts  of  England 
that  when  they  fell  into  the  Severn  they  clogged  the  wheels 
of  the  mills.  In  a  chronicle  of  1688  we  read  that  these  in- 
sects multiplied  so  fearfully  that  year  in  Ireland  that  in  the 
county  of  Galway  the  air  was  obscured,  and  they  swarmed 
so  in  the  fields  that  it  was  difficult  to  make  a  path  through 
them. 

But  its  larvae,  which  the  French  peasants  call  mans,  cause 
far  more  destruction  among  the  forests  and  crops.  They 
live  beneath  the  surface  of  the  soil,  where  it  is  difficult  to 
track  them,  and  gnaw  the  roots  of  the  plants,  so  that  they 
sometimes  totally  devastate  rich  fields.  In  those  seasons 
which  favor  their  multiplication  they  become  a  fearful  pest 
to  the  agriculturist.  Normandy,  which  is  often  ravaged  by 
their  devouring  legions,  has  at  different  times  begged  of 
the  government  to  take  some  measures  that  would  arrest 
this  invasion.  In  1866  these  larvae  were  so  abundant  in 
several  cantons  in  the  department  of  the  Seine-Inferieure 
that  they  absolutely  annihilated  whole  fields  of  beet-root 
and  colza.  In  one  canton  alone  there  was  collected  in  a 


THE  ANIMAL   KINGDOM.  331 

fortnight  enough  of  these  worms  to  fill  completely  a  railway 
train  of  thirty-two  carriages. 

In  the  United  States,  the  insect  pests  whose  ravages  have 
of  late  years  been  most  heavily  felt  are  perhaps  the  potato 
bug  and  the  army  worm. 

Some  insects,  even  those  of  the  smallest  size,  devastate 


153.  Common  May-Bug:  Mtlolontha  vulyaris,  Male,  Female,  Larva,  and  Nymph.     A  most 
terrible  destroyer  of  plantations. 

and  devour  our  crops  of  all  kinds  ;  wherever  they  appear  no 
human  power  can  stay  their  ravages.  According  to  M. 
Guerin-Meneville,  they  annually  consume  a  large  portion  of 
the  harvests  of  France,  sometimes  as  much  as  a  fourth, 
which  means  that  they  cause  destruction  to  the  value  of 
500  millions  of  francs  (£20,000,000). 

The  frightful  rapidity  with  which  some  insects  multiply, 


332  THE    UNIVERSE. 

and  the  enormous  consumption  which  they  occasion ,  not- 
withstanding their  minute  size,  demonstrate  the  unfortunate 
exactness  of  these  figures.  An  experimenter,  having  in- 
closed a  dozen  male  and  a  dozen  female  weevils  in  a  box  of 
wheat,  found  that  these  minute  beetles,  which  are  only 
about  the  tenth  of  an  inch  long,  had  at  the  close  of  six 
months  brought  forth  an  innumerable  progeny,  and  had 
with  their  assistance  eaten  thirty-three  pounds  avoirdupois 
of  the  grain  in  which  they  were  inclosed.  It  has  accord- 
ingly been  calculated  that  this  little  weevil l  alone  devours 
more  than  300,000  bushels  of  wheat  in  the  granaries  of 
Europe. 

1  Tho  one  most  injurious  to  the  fanner  is  the  Calandra  granaria,  or  "  corn- 
weevil,"  which  lives  in  stored  grain,  whether  it  be  wheat,  barley,  oats,  maize,  or 
rice.  Early  in  the  spring,  as  soon  as  the  weather  is  warm  enough, — for  being 
natives  of  southern  regions  they  do  not  like  cold,  —  the  beetles  pair,  and  as  soon 
as  the  female  is  impregnated  she  buries  herself  in  the  heap  of  corn,  makes  a 
puncture  through  the  skin  of  one  of  the  grains,  and  there  deposits  her  eggs,  one 
only  in  each  grain.  The  hole  is  not  perpendicular  to  the  surface,  but  runs  ob- 
liquely, or  oven  parallel  to  it,  and  the  small  aperture  is  closed  by  her  excrement. 
The  eggs,  then,  are  safe,  even  if  the  grain  be  moved  about.  The  maggots  soon 
hatch  and  feed  upon  the  contents  of  the  grain,  until  the  husk  alone  is  left,  which 
lasts  them  until  they  have  arrived  at  maturity  and  changed  to  pupae.  In  about 
six  to  eight  weeks  from  the  time  of  impregnation  the  perfect  weevil  is  produced, 
which  eats  its  way  through  the  husk,  and  is  then  ready  to  propagate  its  species. 
In  five  months  a  pair  of  weevils  have  been  known  to  produce  6045  individuals, 
each  of  which  required  for  its  cradle  a  grain  of  the  farmer's  crop.  Owing  to  the 
workmanlike  manner  in  which  the  female  deposits  her  eggs,  it  is  very  difficult  to 
detect  their  presence  in  the  grain,  which  is  generally  not  discovered  until  the  per- 
fect animals  are  seen  walking  over  the  heap,  when  the  empty  husks  are  readily 
picked  out.  The  specific  gravity  being  much  lighter  than  sound  grains,  they 
may  always  be  discovered  if  placed  in  a  basin  of  water,  —  the  sound  grains  sink- 
ing, and  these  floating  on  the  surface.  —  Our  Farm  Crops,  by  John  Wilson, 
F.R.  S.  E. 


THE  ANIMAL  KINGDOM. 


333 


In  respect  to  their  migrations  the  crustaceans  have  been 
little  studied  ;  we  only  know  that  some  animals  of  this  class, 
of  strange  habits,  perform  some  very  singular  journeys ; 
these  are  the  large  crabs  called  land-crabs.  Formed  like 
their  congeners  to  respire  water  by  means  of  branchiae  or 
gills,  they  yet  live  on  land,  and  are  met  with  in  compact 


154.  Corn-Weevil.  1.  Grain  of  wheat,  showing  the  punctured  hole;  and  5,  the  exit  of  the 
perfect  Weevil.  2,  Pupa  (natural  size);  3,  magnified.  4,  Grain  of  Indian  Corn,  with  Weevil 
inside.  6  and  10  Corn-Weevil  (Calandra  granaria),  natural  size  and  magnified.  8  and  9,  Rice- 
Weevil  (C.  oryzce),  natural  size  and  magnified. 

bands  on  the  mountains  and  in  the  forests  of  Brazil,  where 
they  dwell  in  holes.  But  each  year  these  animals  make  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  sea  in  order  to  deposit  their  young  there, 
and  this  act  performed  they  return  to  their  favorite  haunts. 
As  it  is  necessary  during  Jbhis  long  and  double  journey  to 
breathe  either  water,  or  at  least  moist  air,  nature  has  pro- 
vided for  every  emergency.  The  tourlourous  —  for  these 
crabs  are  popularly  known  by  that  name  —  possess  for  this 
purpose,  above  the  branchiae,  a  kind  of  sacks  which  serve  as 
reservoirs  of  liquid.  When  one  of  these  crustaceans  wants 
to  travel,  its  first  step  is  to  take  in  a  stock  of  water  by  com- 
pletely filling  these  sacks.  During  its  march  the  liquid  falls 
drop  by  drop  upon  the  respiratory  organs,  and  moistens  the 
vessels.  The  branchiae  being  thus  constantly  wetted,  the 


334  THE   UNIVERSE. 

aquatic  animal  can  live  in  air,  and  move  about,  in  spite  of 
the  dryness  and  heat.  Like  a  locomotive  in  action,  it  car- 
ries with  it  its  supply  of  water,  and  has  only  to  feed  itself. 


155.  Labyrinthine  Cavity,  or  Water-Reservoir,  of  the  Anabas. 

A  singular  fish,  the  anabas,  or  climbing  perch  (Perca 
scandens],  displays  an  organization  exactly  analogous  to  that 
of  the  crab  we  have  just  spoken  of.  It  fills  with  water  a 
labyrinthiform  cavity,  which  is  also  situated  above  its  bran- 
chiae. Then,  after  having  taken  this  precaution,  the  pru- 
dent fish  boldly  issues  from  the  waves,  and  leads  the  life  of 


156.  The  Anabas,  or  Climbing  Perch:  Perca  scandens. 

an  inhabitant  of  air.  It  climbs  the  banks  and  rocks  by 
means  of  its  spiny  fins,  taking  care,  during  its  vagabond 
course,  to  moisten  its  respiratory  apparatus  little  by  little 
with  the  liquid  wherewith  it  filled  the  cells  in  its  head.  It 
has  even  been  said  that  the  anabas  has  been  seen  climbing 
a  tree,  making  use  of  the  cracks  in  the  trunk,  and  drawings 
have  often  been  made  representing  this  circumstance. 


THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


Peaceful  plant-world,  in  thy  well-ordered  stillness  I  perceive  the  hand  of  the  Deity;  thy  un- 
earned excellence  bears  my  inquiring  spirit  up  to  the  highest  Intelligence;  from  thy  placid 
mirror  His  divine  form  beams  upon  me.  —  SCHILLER,  The  Misanthrope,  scene  vii. 


THE 

VEGETABLE   KINGDOM, 


INTRODUCTION. 

IN  the  harmony  of  the  spheres  everything  is  in  a  state  of 
mobility  and  perpetual  transmutation.  The  heavens  are 
tenanted  with  new  nebulae,  and  old  stars  disappear  in  the 
abyss  of  immensity.  On  the  earth  new  generations  of  ani- 
mals and  plants  arise,  while  the  scythe  of  time  mows  down 
those  which  but  lately  flourished  there.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  mass  of  animated  matter  visibly  reveals  its  vitality  ; 
whilst,  on  the  other  side,  its  occult  forces  hide  themselves, 
and  act  only  in  the  most  hidden  recesses  of  the  organism. 
But  all  is  carried  away  by  the  supreme  power  of  life,  that 
inexplicable  and  unfathomable  mystery  ! 

We  behold  animals  which  at  a  certain  season,  and  at  a 
given  moment,  display  themselves  in  irresistible  power,  or 
disappear,  providentially  guided  by  an  unknown  force. 
Sometimes  it  seems  as  if  a  ray  of  light  attracted  them,  whilst 
darkness  drives  them  away ;  at  other  times  it  is  the  reverse. 

When  night  begins  to  spread  its  sombre  shades  over  the 
earth,  legions  of  twilight-loving  moths  flit  heavily  near 

their  haunts,  whilst  the  bat,  issuing  from  its  ruins,  shakes 
22 


338  THE   UNIVERSE. 

its  membranous  wings  and  launches  itself  in  pursuit  of  these 
insects.  Some  delicate  molluscs  rise  towards  dawn  to  the 
surface  of  the  sea,  and  sink  beneath  its  waves  so  soon  as 
ever  the  sun  gilds  its  undulating  ripples. 

Again  we  behold  plants  or  their  corollas  displaying  them- 
selves and  opening  according  to  the  seasons  and  hours  of 
the  day.  So  exact  are  they  in  their  movements  that  a 
sagacious  observer,  attentively  following  up  these  phenom- 
ena, soon  sees  that  by  means  of  them  he  can  arrange  calen- 
dars and  clocks,  all  the  divisions  of  which  the  charming 
goddess  of  flowers  indicates  accurately  with  her  finger. 

It  is  known  that  Pliny,  having  noted  with  care  the  times 
at  which  plants  flower,  conceived  the  idea  that  we  might 
make  use  of  them  to  mark  the  different  seasons  of  the  year. 
Cuvier  even  asserts  that  the  Roman  naturalist  proposed  to 
arrange  a  complete  floral  calendar ;  but  the  project  was  first 
thoroughly  carried  out  by  Linnaeus,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
most  elegant  conceptions  of  his  genius. 

This  floral  calendar  is  accurate  enough,  and  we  can  see 
that  each  month  of  the  year  is  exactly  indicated  by  the 
blooming  of  certain  flowers.  The  first  month,  despite  its 
snow  and  ice,  sees  the  black  hellebore  flower.  During  the 
second  the  alder  shakes  its  catkins  and  the  mezereon  seems 
to  smile  on  the  spring,  scattering  its  flowerets  over  its 
boughs.  In  March  the  wall-flower  decorates  the  old  walls 
with  its  golden  corollas,  and  in  our  gardens  the  crown-im- 
perial opens  its  treacherous  bells.  The  following  month  the 
periwinkle  expands  its  leafy  net-work  in  the  shadow  of  our 
forests.  In  May,  flowers  abound  ;  the  iris,  the  lily  of  the 
valley,  and  the  lilac  perfume  the  air  on  every  side.  Dur- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  339 

ing  the  months  of  June  and  July  Flora  parades  all  the 
pomp  of  her  empire:  the  foxglove,  the  sage,  the  wild 
poppy,  the  mint,  and  the  pink  bloom  in  our  fields  and 
woods.  In  August,  the  asters,  dahlias,  and  helianthus  seem 
to  brave  the  heat  of  the  sun.  Finally,  in  September,  the 
colchicum  scatters  its  purplish  flowers  all  over  our  mead- 
ows, and  announces  the  return  of  winter.  It  is  the  plant 
which,  according  to  Linnaeus,  gives  the  signal  of  repose  to 
the  botanist. 

The  hour  at  which  each  flower  opens  is  itself  so  uniform 
that  by  watching  them  floral  clocks  of  sufficient  accuracy 
can  be  arranged. 

Father  Kircher  had  dreamed  of  it,  but  vaguely  and  with- 
out pointing  out  anything  ;  it  is  to  Linnaeus  that  we  must 
ascribe  the  ingenious  idea  of  indicating  all  the  hours  by  the 
time  at  which  plants  open  or  shut  their  corollas.  The 
Swedish  botanist  had  created  a  flower-clock  for  the  climate 
which  he  inhabited,  but  as,  in  our  latitudes,  a  more  brill- 
iant and  radiant  dawn  makes  the  flowers  earlier,  Lamarck 
was  obliged  to  construct  for  France  another  clock,  which  is 
a  little  in  advance  of  that  at  Upsala. 

This  regularity  in  the  opening  of  flowers  strikes  every 
person;  some  savage  races  make  use  of  it  to  divide  their 
days  and  their  toils.  These  begin  at  the  hour  when  the 
marigold  opens,  and  the  Natchez,  Chateaubriand  says,  make 
their  love  appointments  for  the  time  when  the  last  rays  of 
day  are  about  to  close  the  flowers  of  the  Hibiscus.1 

1  There  is  something  very  inexplicable  in  these  facts.  The  Sidas  of  India  ex- 
pand their  flowers  in  the  morning  only,  while  the  Abutilons,  which  scarcely  differ 
from  them  in  any  point  of  structure,  only  unfold  their  blossoms  in  the  evening.  — 
TR. 


340  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Other  flowers,  less  regular  in  their  habits,  only  open 
under  the  influence  of  certain  atmospheric  conditions,  from 
which  they  have  acquired  the  surname  of  meteoric.  Some 
of  them  have  gained  considerable  celebrity.  Among  these 
is  the  rain  marigold,  which,  so  soon  as  the  dark  clouds  begin 
to  gather,  closes  its  corolla  with  the  greatest  care,  to  pre- 
serve it  from  the  storm.  The  Siberian  sow-thistle,  of  to- 
tally different  habits,  accustomed  to  hoar-frost,  seems  to 
dread  our  sun  ;  it  only  expands  when  the  sky  is  cloudy,  and 
closes  its  flowerets  tightly  up  so  soon  as  the  atmosphere 
gets  warm. 

The  connection  between  man  and  the  vegetable  kingdom 
is  not  limited  to  these  curious  investigations  ;  plants,  living 
emblems  of  the  rapid  passage  of  hours  and  time  itself,  eter- 
nal lessons  of  wisdom,  are  associated  with  all  our  wants,  our 
pleasures,  and  our  pains. 

The  hardiest  trees  serve  to  build  our  dwellings  with  ; 
other  plants  form  our  most  natural  food. 

Sometimes  the  existence  of  certain  tribes  depends  on  a 
single  vegetable  species.  A  palm  which  grows  in  the  for- 
ests at  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  suffices  for  all  the  wants 
of  some  savage  races,  who,  in  company  with  the  monkeys, 
live  almost  constantly  perched,  as  it  were,  in  the  midst  of 
its  foliage.  It  yields  them  food,  wine,  and  even  cordage  to 
swing  the  hammocks  on,  in  which  they  suspend  themselves 
during  the  inundations.1 

1  The  palm  spoken  of  here  belongs  to  the  genus  Mauritia.  It  grows  by  the 
banks  of  the  Orinoco,  along  almost  the  whole  course  of  its  stream,  and  forms  re- 
markable forests  near  its  mouth.  u  At  the  time  of  the  inundations,"  says  Hum- 
boldt,  "  the  tufts  of  the  fan-leaved  murichi  (Mauritia  flexuosa)  present  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  forest  issuing  from  the  bosom  of  the  waters.  The  navigator, 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  341 

In  all  ages  men  have  prized  the  beauty  and  perfume  of 
flowers,  and  they  have  become  an  indispensable  ornament 
of  even  the  least  important  festival.  The  ancients  had 
their  "  coronary  plants  ;  "  these  were  consecrated  to  Venus, 
and  at  feasts  each  guest  wore  a  chaplet.  But  we  must 
also  do  them  the  justice  to  remark  that  they  employed 
an  ample  series  of  "funereal  plants  "  for  the  mournful  cer- 
emonies of  death  ;  each  one  had  its  mission  or  special 
signification.1 

traversing,  at  night,  the  branches  of  the  Orinoco  delta,  sees  with  surprise  the 
crowns  of  these  palms  lighted  up  by  large  fires.  These  are  the  habitations  of  the 
Guaranis  suspended  from  the  trunks  of  the  trees.  These  people  stretch  mats  in 
the  air,  fill  them  with  earth,  and  on  this  bed  of  wet  clay  light  what  fires  they  re- 
quire for  household  purposes.  For  ages  they  have  owed  their  liberty  and  polit- 
ical independence  to  the  treacherous  and  miry  nature  of  their  soil,  which  they 
traverse  in  seasons  of  drought,  and  over  which  they  alone  know  how  to  pass  in 
safety,  to  their  isolation  in  the  delta  of  the  Orinoco,  and  to  their  living  in  the 
trees."  —  Von  Humboldt,  Voyage  aux  Regions  Equinoxiales,  t.  viii.,  p.  363. 

1  The  history  of  the  funereal  plants  of  the  ancients  has  been  worked  out  in  a 
very  interesting  way  by  G.  A.  Langguth,  in  his  Antiquitates  Plantarum  Feralium 
apud  Grcecos  et  Romanes,  Lipsiae,  1738.  He  follows  up  the  employment  of  them 
from  the  commencement  of  the  malady  to  the  close  of  the  funeral  ceremonies. 
The  author  presents  us  with  a  true  and  interesting  picture  of  Greek  and  Roman 
manners.  When  the  malady  began  to  alarm  a  family  seriously,  they  suspended 
at  the  patient's  door  boughs  of  the  favorite  tree  of  Apollo,  the  inventor  of  medi- 
cine, in  order  to  secure  a  favorable  turn  to  the  complaint.  To  the  branches  of 
laurel  were  added  tufts  of  the  Rhamnus,  consecrated  to  Janus,  and  which  was 
supposed  to  preserve  the  dwelling  from  all  harm.  But  if,  despite  this  invocation 
for  aid,  death  overtook  the  sick  person,  they  substituted  for  these  plants  black 
boughs  of  cypress,  the  emblem  of  Pluto  and  Proserpine;  or  branches  of  larch, 
the  funeral  tree,  as  Pliny  calls  it.  At  a  later  period,  when  the  body  of  the  de- 
funct had  been  washed,  it  was  anointed  with  perfumes,  —  myrrh,  frankincense, 
canella,  and  cardamom.  It  was  then  deposited  in  a  coffin  of  cypress  wood, 
which  the  Athenians,  as  Thucydides  tells  us,  considered  to  be  incorruptible,  and 
on  the  head  was  placed  a  wreath,  the  composition  of  which  was  emblematic  of  the 
condition  of  the  deceased.  It  was  formed  of  olive,  laurel,  white  poplar,  of  lilies 


342  THE    UNIVERSE. 

or  smallage.  Burning  branches  of  pine  and  stems  of  papyrus  lighted  the  proces- 
sion, which  advanced  to  the  sound  of  funereal  flutes,  in  the  construction  of  which 
only  boxwood  and  lotus  were  employed.  They  always  made  use  of  a  pyre  of 
resinous  wood  to  consume  the  dead  body.  Its  action  was  more  rapid  and  its  odor- 
ous emanations  absorbed  the  smell  of  the  burned  flesh.  The  relatives  piously 
collected  the  ashes  and  placed  them  in  urns,  mixed  with  perfumes  of  myrtle  and 
rose,  frankincense  and  violet.  After  this  they  were  deposited  in  the  tomb. 


BOOK  I. 


THE  ANATOMY  OF  PLANTS. 

THREE  men  of  genius,  Grew,  Malpighi,  and  Leuwenhoeck, 
founded  vegetable  anatomy  almost  at  the  same  time  in  Eng- 
land, Italy,  and  Holland.  This  subject  was  unknown  in  an- 
tiquity, for  as  it  has  only  been  with  the  aid  of  that  grand 
revealer,  the  microscope,  that  men  have  been  able  to  pen- 
etrate the  secrets  of  vegetable  life,  the  discovery  of  this 
instrument  necessarily  preceded  that  of  the  structure  of 
plants. 

The  microscope  very  soon  taught  us  that  the  whole  veg- 
etable edifice  is  built  up  from  the  cell,  and  that  this  is  the 
creative  element  of  the  different  organs  of  the  plant,  not- 
withstanding their  diversity. 

The  cells  consist  of  little  microscopic  vesicles,  at  first 
globular,  but  which,  by  increase  and  mutual  compression, 
become  many-sided.  And  these  elements,  which  conceal 
themselves  from  our  eyes,  animated  by  an  inconceivable 
plastic  force,  and  multiplying  at  a  prodigious  rate,  cause 
new  worlds  to  arise.  "  Give  me  a  lever  and  a  fulcrum," 
said  Archimedes,  "  and  I  will  lift  the  globe."  M.  Easpail, 
paraphrasing  the  geometer  of  Syracuse,  was  able  to  say, 
almost  "  Give  me  a  living  cellule,  and  I  will  reproduce 
all  creation." 


344  THE    UNIVERSE. 

And  indeed  it  is  these  cells,  these  living  atoms,  about  one 
three  thousandth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  but  endowed  with 
a  mysterious  and  disproportionate  power  of  production, 
which  each  spring  cover  our  soil  with  verdure,  and  call  to 
life  the  awe-inspiring  savanna  or  immense  virgin  forest. 

These  creative  vesicles,  by  lengthening,  become  fibres 
or  vessels,  and  these  anatomical  elements,  when  grouped 
together,  form  roots,  twigs,  leaves,  and  flowers.  Their 
multiplication  takes  place  with  such  prodigious  rapidity 
that  a  body  of  them  not  a  hundredth  part  of  the  size  of  a 
pin's  head  sometimes  produces  in  a  single  night  a  plant 


157.  Cellular  Tissue  filled  with  Fecula,  seen  with  the  microscope. 

which  reaches  the  size  of  a  great  gourd !  This  is  what 
takes  place  in  some  Fungi. 

In  spite  of  the  extreme  minuteness  of  the  interior  of  the 
cells,  they  still  contain  bodies  of  very  various  kinds,  some 
of  which  one  is  surprised  to  find  there. 

In  the  leaves  the  cells  are  all  filled  with  little  green 
granules,  which  give  to  vegetation  the  color  it  displays 
everywhere.  Sometimes  fine  crystals  are  observed  in  them. 
Vaucher  and  Morren  have  even  found  animalcules  quite 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  345 

alive  in  certain  aquatic  plants.  Lastly,  M.  Trecul  has  re- 
cently demonstrated  at  the  Academy  of  Sciences l  that  the 
cellular  tissue  of  the  Caladium  is  sometimes  invaded  by 
numerous  rudimentary  plants,  the  appearance  of  which,  ac- 
cording to  this  savant,  in  the  midst  of  this  tissue  so  entirely 


158.  Fruit  of  the  Bread-Fruit  Tree :  Artocarpus  incisa.     Very  much  reduced  in  size. 

cut  off  from  connection  with  the  outer  world,  cannot  possi- 
bly be  explained  except  by  spontaneous  generation. 

But  the  substance  most  frequently  met  with  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  cellular  tissue  is  our  alimentary  fecula.  Each 
of  the  microscopic  cells  is  sometimes  quite  filled  with  it. 
We  observe  it  in  all  the  organs,  —  root,  stem,  and  flower. 

1  Dr.  Charles  Musset,  who  has  acquired  a  certain  amount  of  celebrity  in  the 
great  discussions  on  spontaneous  generation,  has  had  an  opportunity  of  verifying 
the  exactness  of  the  facts  put  forward  by  M.  Trecul. 


346  THE   UNIVERSE. 

We  are  astonished  when  sailors  tell  us  that  the  islanders 
of  Otaheite  actually  prepare  bread  by  simply  placing  upon 
a  gridiron  slices  of  a  large  fruit  which  grows  in  their  island, 
and  that  these,  when  they  are  taken  from  the  gridiron,  have 
precisely  the  taste  of  the  bread  made  by  our  bakers.  This 
is  easily  explained.  The  fruit  of  the  bread-fruit  tree,  — for 
it  is  so  called,  —  which  reaches  an  enormous  size,  generally 
weighing  more  than  two  pounds,  and  sometimes  four  or 
five,  is  crammed  with  fecula,  and  owing  to  this  only  re- 
quires to  be  sliced  and  exposed  to  heat  in  order  to  be  trans- 
formed into  genuine  warm  bread. 

Strabo  relates  that  when  the  army  of  Alexander  was 
traversing  Gedrosia,  the  men,  being  utterly  without  food, 
supported  themselves  for  some  time  on  the  pith  of  a  certain 
species  of  palm.  The  same  thing  happened,  according  to 
the  account  given  by  Xenophon,  during  the  famous  retreat 
of  the  ten  thousand  Greeks.  All  this  is  also  naturally  ex- 
plained by  the  abundance  of  alimentary  fecula  contained  in 
the  trunks  of  certain  palms.  A  similar  fact  is  now  repeated 
every  day  of  our  lives.  Every  one  knows  that  the  sago,  so 
frequently  used  at  our  tables,  is  obtained  from  the  central 
and  medullary  part  of  the  stem  of  the  sago-palm,  which 
originally  belongs  to  India. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  347 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE   ROOT. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  unseemly  look  of  its  tortuous 
ramifications,  and  the  disorderly  appearance  of  its  absorbing 
fibres,  the  root  of  a  tree  is  none  the  less  organically  iden- 
tical with  the  regular  boughs  and  symmetrical  divisions 
supported  by  the  stem.  Anatomy  and  experience  prove 
this. 

We  sometimes  see  in  forests  large  branches  creeping  along 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  their  lower  half  buried,  while  the 
other  is  exposed  to  the  air.  The  former  sends  out  rootlets 
which  sink  into  the  ground,  and  the  other  leaves  which  ex- 
pand to  the  bosom  of  the  atmosphere.  The  same  organ, 
therefore,  is  at  once  trunk  and  root. 

Experiment  proves  this  fact  still  better.  Duhamel  in- 
verted willows,  placing  their  roots  in  the  open  air  and  their 
boughs  in  the  earth.  So  identical  are  these  organs  that  in 
a  short  time  the  roots  were  covered  with  leaves,  and  the 
stems,  transformed  into  an  underground  structure,  had  put 
out  spongioles.  This  curious  experiment  succeeded  equally 
well  on  a  large  scale.  M.  de  Raguse,  in  his  memoirs,  men- 
tions having  seen  on  the  property  of  a  Russian  gentleman 
an  avenue  of  limes  which  he  had  in  a  whim  transplanted 
upside  down.  The  metamorphosis  was  complete  ;  all  the 
inverted  trees  flourished  splendidly,  and  the  roots  were  com- 
pletely changed  into  vigorous  leafy  branches.1 

1  In  the  birch- wood  of  Culloden  there  is  a  larch-fir  which  was  blown  down  in  a 


348 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


The  identity  between  the  organs  is  so  complete  that  the 
physiologist  can  even  transform  the  middle  part  of  the  stem 
into  a  root,  whilst  above  and  below  this  it  puts  out  branches 
covered  with  leaves,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  tree  thus 
represents  two  trees  placed  one  above  the  other.  Duhamel 
proved  this  by  a  curious  experiment.  He  surrounded  the 
stem  of  a  willow  with  a  cask  filled  with  earth,  which  was 
raised  from  the  ground  to  a  higher  level  than  the  first 

branches  of  the  tree.  Adventi- 
tious roots  soon  shot  out  on  this 
part  of  the  trunk,  while  above  and 
below  it  was  laden  with  boughs 
covered  with  verdure. 

Anatomy  assigns  generally  three 
functions  to  the  roots  :  they  fix 
the  tree,  feed  it,  and  at  the  same 
time  fill  the  office  of  excreting 
organs. 

In  most  of  the  Fuci  the  root 
merely  represents  a  sort  of  cramp- 
Si   ing  iron,  serving  just  to  anchor 
the  plants  at  the  bottom  of  the 

159.  Adventitious  Roots  upon  a  Trunk.  . 

Experiment.  sea,   without    drawing   the   least 


particle  of  nourishment  from  the  rock  which  it  grasps.  The 
myriads  of  little  claws  by  which  the  ivy  attaches  itself  to 
the  rugged  stone  of  tombs  and  walls  seem  also  designed 
solely  to  fix  it  to  its  favorite  site. 

storm,  and  fell  across  a  gully.  The  branches  took  root  on  the  other  side,  and 
from  the  parent  stem,  thus  fed,  shot  up  perpendicularly  fifteen  trees  all  in  a  row, 
which  still  flourish  in  all  their  splendor.  —  Science  Gossip,  1865.  —  TB. 


• 
THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  349 

On  the  contrary,  the  water-lentil,  which  spreads  its  car- 
pet of  verdure  on  the  surface  of  our  pools,  possesses  nothing 
but  spongioles.  A  Pontederia,  which  floats  on  the  rivers  of 


160.  Spongiole  of  the  Floating  Pontederia  (Pontederia  crassipes),  highly  magnified. 

India,  is  only  furnished  with  fine  rootlets  spreading  through 
the  water.     But  these  are  rare  exceptions. 

Buried  in  the  earth,  the  root  there  performs  its  three 
functions  in  obscurity.  For  this  purpose  each  of  its  capil- 
lary filaments  is  terminated  by  a  little  swelling  called  spon- 
giole,  to  which  the  function  of  absorbing  is  specially  in- 
trusted, and  which,  like  an  invisible  sponge,  sucks  up  the 
nutrient  juices  of  the  soil  which  surrounds  it. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    STEM. 

ALTHOUGH  the  diversified  forms  of  stems  do  not  allow  us 
to  classify  them  strictly,  we  can  at  least  see  that  they  often 
present  themselves  under  three  strictly  defined  aspects,  the 
types  of  which  are  found  in  our  trees,  in  the  palms,  and  in 
the  grasses. 

The  stem  of  our  trees,  called  the  trunk,  consists  of  a 
greatly  elongated  cone,  which  becomes  very  much  smaller 
as  it  gains  in  height.  In  a  section  of  it  we  distinguish  three 
parts  clearly  defined,  —  the  bark,  the  wood,  and  the  pith 


350 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


The  bark,  which  is  the  outermost,  is  formed  of  tolerably 
numerous  layers.  The  parts  most  deserving  of  remark  in 
it  are  the  epidermis,  or  outermost  layer,  a  fine,  transparent 
membrane,  which  generally  allows  us  to  see  the  tissue  over 
which  it  lies ;  and  under  the  epidermis,  the  suberous  layer, 
generally  unnoticed  on  account  of  its  thinness,  but  which 
exceptionally  attains  to  a  thickness  of  an  inch  or  so  in  some 


161.  Section  of  Cork-Tree,    a,  Layers  of  cork  or  suber;  b,  inner  bark  and  suber;  c,  concentric 
rings  of  wood  and  medullary  rays. 

trees,  particularly  in  the  cork-tree.  This  layer  constitutes 
the  cork  of  which  we  make  such  great  use  for  our  domestic 
wants.  In  the  south  of  Europe  and  in  Africa  it  is  taken 
from  the  trees,  and  as  this  tissue  grows  after  being  removed 
a  new  crop  can  be  gathered  every  seven  or  eight  years. 
The  cork  then  is  not  the  bark,  but  merely  its  superficial 
layer,  for  when  we  strip  a  trunk  of  its  cortical  envelope 
completely  it  dies ;  we  could  not  effect  several  successive 
removals  of  it ;  the  trees  would  be  killed  if  we  did. 

Beneath  the  suberous  layer  is  seen  the  inner  bark,  char- 
acterized at  the  first  glance  by  its  little  cells  filled  with  gran- 
ules, usually  green,  the  coloring  of  which  is  seen  through 
the  epidermis. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  351 

The  layers  of  the  liber  are  found  still  deeper.  They  form 
thin  membranes,  composed  of  elongated  fibres,  and  often  of 
a  beautiful  white.  These  layers  are  superimposed  like  the 
leaves  of  a  book,  and  can  sometimes  be  separated  with  facil- 
ity, whence  they  have  acquired  the  name  of  liber,  and  also 
that  of  libretto,  by  which  they  were  formerly  designated. 

The  long  tenacious  fibres  of  the  liber  sometimes  simply 
lie  side  by  side,  and  thus  yield  valuable  textile  fabrics.  At 
other  times,  being  closely  interwoven,  they  are  worked  up 
by  the  savages  into  various  objects.  By  distending  the  bark 
of  a  little  switch,  the  size  of  a  quill,  they  make  a  nightcap, 
or  a  whip  possessing  all  the  flexibility  of  those  we  construct 
with  the  finest  cord. 

The  liber  of  some  plants  is  exactly  like  certain  cloths ; 
vestments  which  nature  offers  us  ready-made.  The  inhab- 
itants of  New  Zealand  convert  the  liber  of  some  of  their 
trees  into  strong  drapery,  and,  having  covered  it  with  im- 
pressed patterns,  they  put  it  to  different  purposes,  either  to 
ornament  their  dwellings  or  to  make  their  dresses  of.  In 
Havana  the  negresses  make  their  dresses  of  a  softer  and 
finer  kind.  On  the  Lagetto,  which  is  celebrated  on  this  ac- 
count, layers  are  found,  the  intertwined  fibres  of  which  are 
as  fine  as  our  muslin,  and  even  take  its  place  in  the  toilet  of 
the  ladies,  so  that  the  name  of  lace-wood  has  been  given  to 
the  tree  which  produces  them. 

The  inner  layers  of  the  bark  are  sometimes  formed  of 
leaves  sufficiently  close  and  compact  to  constitute  a  kind  of 
paper.  It  was  from  these  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  made 
their  celebrated  papyrus  rolls,  on  which  they  wrote,  and 
which,  spared  by  the  hand  of  time,  reveal  to  our  astonished 


352  THE    UNIVERSE. 

gaze  works  which  go  back  to  the  days  of  the  Pharaohs. 
The  paper-sedge  (Cyperus  papyrus),  which  has  such  a 
strange  aspect,  and  which  grows  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile, 
has  long  been  understood  to  furnish  this  precious  object.1 

The  wood  is  composed  of  concentric  zones,  lying  one 
within  the  other,  which  are  the  result  of  the  intimate  union 
of  a  mass  of  microscopic  vessels  and  fibres. 

In  the  centre  of  the  stem  is  found  the  pith,  composed  al- 
most exclusively  of  cellular  tissue.  It  is  with  very  thin 
sheets  of  this  structure,  cut  by  means  of  a  sharp  knife,  that 
the  Chinese  make  the  beautiful  paper  on  which  they  paint, 
and  which  is  incorrectly  called  rice-paper.2 

The  second  type  of  stem  belongs  to  the  palms.  This  stem, 
which  bears  the  name  of  stipes,  is  usually  cylindrical,  and  is 
without  branches  or  bark.3 

1  The  employment  of  the  papyrus  for  writing  upon  seems  to  have  preceded  his- 
toric times.     Herodotus  asserts  that  he  saw  drawn  up  on  this  substance  a  cata- 
logue of  330  kings  who  had  preceded  Sesostris.     Papyrus  was  employed  even  in 
Gaul  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century  ;  and  to  preserve  the  manuscript 
books,  after  every  four  or  five  leaves  of  paper  two  leaves  of  vellum  were  placed, 
on  which  the  text  was  continued.     In  the  end  the  papyrus  was  replaced  by  cot- 
ton-paper, cliarta  bombycina,  also  called  charta  damascena.     The  invention  of  rag- 
paper,  which  M.  Goury  ascribes  to  about  the   twelfth  century,  probably  caused 
the  disuse  of  cotton-paper. 

2  Rice-paper  is  nothing  else  than  fine  layers,  cut  with  great  skill,  of  the  pith  of 
the  JEschynomene  paludosa,  a  plant  of  the  family  of  the  Leguminosae. 

8  This  sort  of  stem  has  no  distinct  concentric  layers  or  medullary  rays.  The 
youngest  formation  takes  place  towards  the  centre  instead  of  at  the  circumference, 
as  in  exogens  ;  and  the  pith  p  (Fig  163)  does  not  occupy  the  centre,  but  is  in- 
terposed between  bundles  of  woody  and  vascular  tissue,  f,  which  descend  from 
the  leaves,  and,  curving  inwards,  pass  down  near  the  middle  of  the  stem  for  some 
distance,  as  shown  in  Fig.  164,  and  then,  taking  an  outward  course,  terminate  at 
the  circumference.  The  older  formations,  being  thus  continually  pressed  out- 


162.  Egyptian  Papyrus :  Cyperus papyrus  (LinnaeusJ. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


355 


Lastly  comes  the  stalky  composed  of  a  stem  bulging  at 
successive  points ;  it  is  peculiar  to  the  family  of  grasses. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   LEAF. 

To  the  tunic  of  leaves  by  which  plants  are  covered  is  due 
all  the  magnificence  of  creation.  The  flowers,  indeed,  form 
a  charming  ornament  which  attracts  and  seduces  the  eye, 
but  they  remain  unnoticed  in  the  grand  scenes  of  Nature, 
when  she  unrolls  before  us  her  most  splendid  landscapes, 
her  sombre  forests,  or  her  immense  extended  plains  of  ver- 
dure. 

To  the  leaf  is  confided  one  of  the  most  important  func- 
tions of  vegetable  life,  —  respiration.  Leaves,  then,  are  only 

wards,  become  harder  and  more  compact  than  those  in  the  interior.     The  stems 


163.  Palm :  Horizontal  Section  of  Stem.  164.  Palm :  Longitudinal  Section  of  Stem. 

of  palms  have  no  true  bark,  but  are  covered  with  a  cortical  integument  similar  to 
that  of  exogens.  —  TR. 


356 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


the  lungs  of  plants.  It  is  seldom  that  they  are  unprovided 
with  them,  yet  such  is  the  case  with  some  Euphorbise,  the 
stem  of  which,  inordinately  swollen,  entirely  replaces  them, 
and  only  bears  very  insignificant  rudiments  of  such  struc- 
tures. 


165.  Aerial  or  Pulmonary,  and  Aquatic  or  Branchial,  Leaves  of  the  Aquatic  Ranunculus. 

The  leaf  is  composed  of  two  parts  :  the  petiole,  or  sup- 
port, and  the  blade,  which  is  spread  out  in  the  form  of  a 
membrane.  It  is  only  exceptionally  that  this  is  perforated 
so  as  to  look  like  an  elegant  net-work,  as  in  the  Hydrogeton 
fenestratum,  the  name  of  which  comes  from  this  singular 
peculiarity ;  it  is  also  seen  in  the  submerged  leaves  of  some 
aquatic  plants,  which  in  such  an  arrangement  seem  to  re- 
mind us  of  the  branchiae,  the  respiratory  organs  of  fish. 

In  some  plants  they  are  transformed  into  long  capillary 
filaments,  which  are  seen  gently  undulating  in  the  current 
of  our  rivers,  like  the  tresses  of  a  naiad  floating  beneath 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  357 

the  limpid  water.  It  is  thus  that  the  leaves  of  some  aquatic 
ranunculuses  are  seen  forming  movable  green  carpets  in  the 
depths  of  our  streams. 

If  we  transport  ourselves  to  the  agitated  waves  of  the 
Amazon,  we  find  there  leaves  which  display  themselves  on 
the  surface  like  immense  plains  of  verdure  ;  these  are  the 


166.  A  River  Reach  filled  with  the  Floating  Leaves  of  the  Victoria  reyia. 

growth  of  the  Victoria  regia.  These  leaves,  almost  circular, 
are  from  six  to  eight  feet  in  diameter.  They  spring  from 
a  petiole,  which,  issuing  from  the  depths  of  the  river,  pro- 
jects from  its  stem  some  twenty  feet  distance,  and  ends  be- 
neath the  blade,  forming,  by  its  ramifications,  a  solid  frame- 
work, strengthened  by  very  projecting  partitions  such  as  no 
other  plant  possesses.  The  upper  surface  of  the  leaves  of 
the  Victoria  is,  on  the  contrary,  very  uniform  and  of  a  beau- 
tiful green ;  thus,  seen  at  a  distance,  they  look  like  so  many 


358  THE    UNIVERSE. 

floating  tables  covered  with  velvet.  Owing  to  their  frame- 
work of  nerves,  these  swimming  leaves  can  support  a  great 
weight  without  sinking.  Thus,  in  these  burning  regions, 
the  aquatic  birds  rest  upon  them,  or  pass  the  night  on  these 
cool  natural  rafts.  The  daughter  of  one  of  the  most  illus- 
trious botanists  in  England  told  me  that,  when  a  child,  her 
father  had  set  her  upon  one  of  those  gigantic  leaves,  and 
that  she  had  walked  upon  it  without  it  sinking. 

Indian  mythology  is,  therefore,  not  so  irrational  when  it 
relates  that  the  god  Vishnu,  armed  with  a  trident,  crossed 
the  abyss  of  eternal  waters  on  a  leaf  of  the  Nymphsea,  and 
that  one  of  these  served  as  a  floating  sea-shell  for  the  grace- 
ful goddess  Lakshmi. 

There  are  some  other  leaves  which,  though  they  cer- 
tainly do  not  spread  out  in  elegant  sheets  of  verdure  like 
those  of  the  Victoria,  nevertheless,  in  unfolding,  extend 
their  numerous  divisions  in  a  much  more  extraordinary 
manner.  This  is  seen  in  the  taliput  palm  ( Corypha  umbra- 
eulifera),  a  great  palm  which  grows  in  India,  and  the  spe- 
cific name  of  which  denotes  the  broad  shadow  which  its 
crown  of  verdure  projects  upon  the  ground.  Its  leaves  are 
supported  by  a  long  powerful  petiole  as  high  as  a  man,  and 
under  their  vast  cover  forty  persons  can  shelter  themselves. 
We  sometimes  see  leaves  of  this  tree  fixed  to  the  ceiling  of 
a  collection  of  natural  history,  one  of  them  covering  it 
completely. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  359 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    FLOWER. 

WHEN  we  brush  a  flower  with  our  fingers,  when  its  color 
attracts  our*  attention  and  its  perfume  intoxicates  us,  it 
seems  as  if  we  knew  all  about  it.  But  this  is  a  mistake. 
Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  conceive  an  exact  idea  of 
what  a  flower  is.  Famous  botanists,  like  Haller  and  Adan- 
son,  have  given  it  up ;  others  have  said  nothing  of  value  on 
this  head. 

"  When  I  am  not  asked  what  time  is,  I  know  it  very  well ; 
I  do  not  know  it  when  I  am  asked."  These  words  of  St. 
Augustin,  which  J.  J.  Rousseau  repeats,  are  perfectly  ap- 
plicable to  the  flower,  the  nature  of  which  every  one  thinks 
he  knows,  and  which,  nevertheless,  no  one  ever  previously 
succeeded  in  describing  well.  This  honor  was  reserved  for 
the  philosopher  of  Geneva,  who  admits  having  found  so 
much  happiness  in  the  study  of  botany.1 

Difficult  as  it  may  be  to  define  the  flower  with  precision, 
it  is  not  less  so  to  unravel  its  mysterious,  genealogy. 

While  prying  deeply  into  its  primordial  essence,  Goethe, 
triply  illustrious  as  a  naturalist,  poet,  and  philosopher,  ar- 
rived at  a  discovery  which  was  quite  unexpected.  He  has 
scientifically  proved  that,  however  sumptuous  the  beauty  of 

1  The  only  author  who  has  described  a  flower  well  is  Rousseau,  who  at  one  pe- 
riod of  his  life  occupied  himself  with  botany,  and  even  wrote  several  volumes  on 
this  science.  "  It  is,"  he  says,  u  a  local  and  fleeting  part  in  which,  or  by  which, 
the  fecundation  of  the  plant  is  effected."  —  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Dictionnaire  de  Bo- 
tanique,  art.  "  Fleur." 


360  THE    UNIVERSE. 

a  flower  may  be,  each  part  of  it  is  nevertheless  only  a  re- 
sult of  the  metamorphosis  of  a  humble  leaf.  We  are  there- 
fore right  in  saying  that  we  are  stripping  the  roses  of  their 
leaves  when  tearing  off  their  colored  lobes,  for  each  of  these 
is  in  fact  only  a  transformed  leaf. 

When  the  floral  apparatus  is  complete  it  is  formed  of  four 
rosettes,  or  verticilli,  of  depressed  concentrated  leaves. 


167.  Petaloid  Perianth  of  the  White  Lily :  Lilium  candidum  (Linnaeus). 

These  leaves  are  transformed  into  two  kinds  of  organs. 
Some  become  the  perianth,  the  most  brilliant  part  of  the 
flower,  a  true  organ  of  protection,  forming  soft  swathes  for 
the  delicate  apparatus  which  it  incloses,  and,  like  a  glowing 
mirror,  reflecting  heat  and  light  upon  them.  The  others, 
still  further  changed,  are  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  repro- 
ductive apparatus. 

Most  frequently  the  perianth  is  double.     Its  external  en- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


361 


velope,  or  calyx,  is  formed  by  the  first  whorl  of  metamor- 
phosed leaves,  and  as  the  transformation  of  these  is  much 
less  radical  than  in  the  other  parts,  the  different  parts  of 
this  organ,  or  the  sepals,  in  many  cases  remind  us  of  the 
leaves  by  their  structure  and  coloring.  The  internal  en- 
velope, or  corolla,  although  more  brilliant  than  the  other,  is 
nevertheless  also  formed  by  a  whorl  of  leaves, —  the  second. 
Each  of  these  leaves  is  called  a  petal.  The  stamens,  which 
represent  the  male  apparatus  of  plants,  result  from  the 
metamorphosis  of  the  third  whorl  of  leaves  ;  these  depart 
so  far  from  their  normal  type  that  analogy  alone  shows 


168.  Stamen  of  the 
Potato. 


169.  Four-Celled  Anther  of 
the  Persian  Laurel. 


170.  Stamen  of  the 
Amaryllis. 


what  their  fundamental  structure  really  is.  Finally,  the  pis- 
tils, real  organs  of  maternity,  are  derived  from  the  fourth, 
or  innermost  foliaceous  ring. 

Simple  analogy  made  the  naturalists  of  antiquity  suppose 
that  plants,  like  animals,  present  two  sexes,  but  they  had 
only  very  confused  ideas  about  them. 

It  was  only  in  the  seventeenth  century  that  Camerarius, 
a  physician  of  Tubingen,  hit  upon  the  real  truth,  which  he 
expounded  in  a  letter  that  has  become  very  celebrated. 


362 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


This  writing  lighted  up  the  flames  of  discord  in  the  camp 
of  the  botanists;  some  warmly  espoused  the  discovery, 
others  combated  it  to  the  very  utmost.  The  dispute  be- 
came violent ;  the  schools  took  part  in  it ;  men  quarrelled 
about  it  on  every  side,  the  pupils  on  their  benches  and  the 
professors  inHheir  chairs.  In  the  Jardin  du  Roi,  Tournefort 
and  Le  Vaillant  had  a  deadly  dispute  on  the  subject.  Pon- 


171.  Pollen  of  different  Plants,  seen  with  the  microscope.  1,  Hellebore  ;  2,  Sea  Lavender ; 
3,  Wild  Oleander;  4,  Convolvulus;  5,  Scolymus;  6,  Lily;  7,  Gourd;  8,  Hibiscus;  9,  Cobaea; 
10,  Pine-Tree;  11,  Passiflora;  12,  Animalcules  of  the  Pollen  of  Ferns;  13,  Animalcules  of 
the  Chara. 

tedera,  a  cross-grained,  obstinate  savant,  imagining  that 
ascribing  sexes  to  the  flowers  sullied  their  virgin  purity, 
treated  all  those  botanists  who  accepted  the  new  heresy  as 
devoid  of  decency.  And  yet  there  was  nothing  in  it  that 
could  alarm  even  the  modesty  of  a  rose. 

But  notwithstanding  the  denials  of  Tournefort  and  the 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  363 

invectives  of  the  old  professor  of  Padua,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  admit  the  truth  of  the  discovery,  for  experiment 
proved  every  step  in  it. 

Every  person  has  seen  the  delicate  filaments  which  rise 
up  in  the  white  flower  of  the  lily.  These  are  the  repro- 
ductive organs.  Six  of  them,  the  beautiful  yellow  dust 
of  which  stains  the  fingers  of  those  who  touch  it,  are  the 
stamens.  This  dust,  which  is  usually  elaborated  in  two 
little  sacks  called  anthers,  is  known  as  pollen ;  the  German 
botanists  give  the  anthers  the  more  picturesque  name  of 
pollen-ateliers.  They  are  in  fact  marvellous  laboratories, 
in  which  the  impalpable  agents  of  vegetable  life  are  im- 


172.  Pistil  of  the  Poppy.  173.  Pistil  of  the  Madder  Plant. 

perceptibly  prepared.  If  they  are  severed  the  plant  dies 
without  posterity. 

Most  usually  anthers  throw  off  their  products  by  splitting 
up  from  end  to  end.  Sometimes  they  become  pierced  with 
holes  at  the  top,  and  the  pollen  issues  forth  like  a  cloud  of 
smoke.  Lastly,  in  some  flowers  each  sack  presents  one  or 
two  little  doors  in  miniature,  opening  on  microscopic  hinges, 
the  gaping  mouth  of  which  vomits  forth  the  animated  dust. 

In  the  pollen  the  exquisite  delicacy  of  its  organization 


364  THE   UNIVERSE. 

corresponds  to  the  importance  of  the  task  confided  to  it. 
Before  the  invention  of  the  microscope  men  were  far  from 
thinking  how  curious  it  is.  It  was  considered  to  be  only  a 
formless  dust;  the  valuable  instrument  has  revealed  the 
fact  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  possesses  a  distinctly  defined 
configuration,  which  varies  very  much  both  in  regard  to  its 
general  form  and  the  ornamentation  of  its  surface.  This 
diversity  is  even  great  enough  to  allow  some  botanists  to 
make  it  the  basis  of  their  classification  of  plants.1 

It  is  generally  the  globular  form  that  predominates,  but 
there  are  also  grains  which  are  ovoid ;  some  triangular  ones 
are  known,  and  others  resemble  gourds  or  pyramids.  Their 
surface  is  sometimes  smooth,  sometimes  roughened  with 
papillae,  or  defended  by  an  armature  of  spines.  But  micros- 
copy is  not  limited  to  this ;  it  shows  us  that  each  of  these 
pollen  grains  is  really  a  charming  little  utricle  with  a 
double  envelope,  inclosing  a  fluid  in  which  sometimes  swim 
myriads  of  animalcules.2  This  fluid  escapes  by  irregular 
openings  which  are  caused  by  the  bursting  of  the  pollen,  or 

1  Although  they  possessed  very  imperfect  means  of  observation,  our  predeces- 
sors were  nevertheless  struck  by  the  variety  of  the  pollen  grains.     Adanson,  who 
pushed  his  mania  for  classifications  so  far  as  to  produce  sixty-five,  and  who  based 
them  on  the  first  things  which  struck  him,  even  the  smell  and  taste  of  plants,  did 
not  omit  to  form    a  classification  based  on  the    configuration  of  the  pollen. — 
Adanson,  Families  des  Plantes.     Paris,  1763.     Preface,  p    286. 

2  The  microscope  was  very  little  used  by  the  botanists  of  last  century,  and  we 
must  come  to  our  own  age  before  we  find  the  pollen  perfectly  described.     Guille- 
min  attentively  studied  the  infinite  variety  of  its  forms  and  surface.     The  fluid 
contained  in  each  little  pollen-vesicle  was  particularly  studied  by  Messrs.  Mirbel, 
Brongniart,  and  Seringe,  who  all  consider  the  numerous  corpuscles  which  move 
about  in  the  midst  of  it  as  so  many  microscopic  animalcules.     The  German  bota- 
nists, such  as  Schacht  and  others,  designate  them  under  the  name  of  antherozoa, 
in  order  to  leave  no  doubt  on  the  subject. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  365 

by  minute  valves  of  microscopic  size,  but  of  exquisite  con- 
struction, which  open  at  the  fitting  moment,  as  represented 
in  the  figure  of  the  pollen  of  the  gourd  on  page  362. 


174.  Flowers  protected  by  a  Spathe.    Florentine  Iris:  Iris  Florentine,  (Linnaeus). 

In  the  lily,  which  we  have  chosen  as  an  instance  (Fig. 
167),  the  pistil  is  represented  by  a  little  column  situated  in 
the  centre  of  the  flower.  It  consists  of  three  parts  :  the 
ovary,  which  forms  the  swollen  base,  and  which  is  only  the 


366  THE    UNIVERSE. 

fruit  in  miniature ;  the  style,  which  surmounts  it,  but  which 
is  wanting  in  some  other  plants ;  and,  lastly,  the  stigma, 
which  expands  into  a  trilobed  swelling  at  its  extremity. 

Such  are  the  elements  of  the  flower,  and  these,  by  their 
close  union  or  their  monstrous  anomalies,  produce  the  in- 
finite variety  of  forms  which  we  admire  throughout  the 
vegetable  kingdom. 

A  ceaseless  source  of  fecundity,  the  flower  is  the  object  of 
the  most  delicate  protecting  care. 

When  yet  scarcely  outlined,  downy  scales  lend  warmth 
to  it,  and  form  a  soft  pillow  for  its  first  lineaments,  and  the 
exterior  of  the  bud  is  sheathed  with  thin  dry  scales,  covered 
with  resin  to  protect  the  organ  against  moisture. 

As  an  extreme  precaution  some  flowers  are  covered  with 
an  envelope,  or  spathe,  which  does  not  fall  till  the  time  of 
opening.  In  small-sized  monocotyledons,  such  as  the  iris 
(Fig.  174)  and  garlic,  this  envelope  is  very  thin,  mem- 
branous, and  transparent ;  whilst  in  some  great  species  like 
the  palms,  this  supplementary  cradle  of  the  young  flowers 
acquires  colossal  proportions :  it  is  thick,  woody,  and  re- 
sembles a  large  cup  one  to  two  yards  long,  and  this  allows 
the  negresses  sometimes  to  make  use  of  it  as  a  bath  for 
their  children. 


BOOK  II. 

THE   PHYSIOLOGY  OF  PLANTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ABSORPTION. 

IT  is  to  the  root  and  leaf  that  nature  has  intrusted  the 
great  source  of  nourishment,  —  absorption. 

The  leaves  imbibe  moisture  by  the  whole  of  their  surface, 
by  every  pore,  whilst  it  is  only  by  their  fine  hair-like  fibres 
that  roots  take  up  water  from  the  soil.  And  still  further, 
in  the  root  absorption  is  absolutely  restricted  as  to  extent ; 
it  does  not  take  place  through  the  whole  of  the  capillary 
filaments,  but  only  by  the  microscopic  spongiole  which  ter- 
minates each  of  them,  and  acts  the  part  of  a  sucker.  Hence 
Linnaeus  compared  the  roots  to  the  chyliferous  vessels  of 
animals. 

The  great  roots  of  vegetables,  to  which  the  vulgar  natu- 
rally attribute  the  principal  function  of  life,  have  really 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  A  very  simple  experiment  proves 
this.  If  we  place  the  body  of  the  root  of  a  plant  in  dry 
sand,  whilst  the  fine  ends  of  the  roots  are  in  suitable  soil  or 
in  water,  it  continues  to  grow,  displaying  the  freshest  fo- 
liage. But  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  main  mass  of  the  root 


368  THE   UNIVERSE. 

be  encircled  with  suitable  soil,  whilst  the  fine  extremities 
are  scattered  in  the  dry  sand,  the  subject  of  the  experiment 
fades,  languishes,  and  dies. 

An  instinctive,  irresistible  power  guides  the  root  to  its 
goal.  Nothing  checks  it ;  to  attain  this  it  cleaves  the  rock, 
traverses  the  water,  and  hangs  and  twists  in  a  thousand 
ways. 

A  New  England  Acacia,  which  had  become  weakly  and 
languishing,  after  having  exhausted  the  sterile  soil  in  which 
it  was  planted,  at  last  driven  to  quench  its  thirst,  threw  out 
one  of  its  roots  across  a  hollow  of  sixty-six  feet,  in  order  to 
plunge  it  into  a  neighboring  well,  and  spread  out  its  fibres 
in  the  midst  of  the  water.  From  this  time,  according  to 
Malherbe,  to  whom  we  owe  the  story,  the  tree  reared  its 
sinking  boughs  and  blighted  leafage,  after  which  it  grew 
with  marvellous  rapidity.1 

The  banyan-tree,  celebrated  in  India  on  account  of  the 
veneration  with  which  it  is  regarded,  and  of  its  strange  as- 
pect, is  still  more  remarkable.  From  its  powerful  horizon- 
tal boughs  fall  here  and  there  fine  aerial  roots,  like  simple 
filaments.  These  appendages  sink  slowly  to  the  ground,  as 
if  attracted  thereby,  and  do  not  enlarge  till  they  have  sunk 
into  it.  But  everything  changes  as  soon  as  they  touch  the 
soil.  These  slender  shoots  then  acquire  a  considerable  in- 
crease in  size,  forming  all  round  the  mother  trunk  a 
splendid  vegetable  colonnade,  the  manifold  pillars  of  which 
uphold  an  imposing  vault  of  verdure.  The  Brahmin  some- 

1  Dr.  Davy  brought  forward  a  case  in  which  a  horse-chestnut  grew  on  a  flat 
stone,  the  roots  passing  for  seven  feet  up  a  wall,  then  turning  over  the  top  of  the 
wall,  and  down  again  for  seven  feet  to  the  earth.  —  TR. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  371 

times  places  his  idols  beneath  this  rustic  and  mysterious 
temple,  where  the  Indian  bows  his  forehead  towards  the 
sacred  Ganges.  It  is  to  this  custom  that  the  tree  owes  its 
common  name  of  the  pagoda  fig-tree. 

The  number  of  aerial  roots  on  this  fig-tree  is  sometimes 
considerable,  and  the  mother  tree  produces  all  round  it  an 
impenetrable  colonnade,  composed  of  supports  of  all  sizes. 
There  are  some  on  which  as  many  as  350  of  these  great 
roots  can  be  counted,  to  which  from  2000  to  3000  little  ones 
are  joined  ;  it  seems  a  forest  in  the  midst  of  a  forest.  An 
Indian  tradition  tells  that  Alexander  passed  near  one  of 
these  gigantic  trees,  which  still  exists  by  the  Nerbuddah. 

The  aerial  roots  of  the  Clusia  rosea  produce  different  re- 
sults. The  plant  lets  them  drop  from  the  top  of  the  palm- 
tree.  At  first  fragile  and  harmless,  they  twine  themselves 
innocently  round  the  stems,  but  very  shortly  they  become 
welded  together,  and,  finding  in  the  soil  a  superabundance 
of  vital  matter,  these  roots  form  a  thick  woody  mantle,  and 
their  tortuous  arms,  compressing  their  protector  more  and 
more,  finish  by  fixing  it  in  the  middle  of  an  unyielding 
sheath,  so  as  to  choke  it.  Hence  the  accursed  fig-tree  —  for 
this  is  the  common  name  of  the  parasite  —  is  the  living 
symbol  of  ingratitude.1 

De  Candolle  admits,  without  any  circumlocution,  that  ab- 

1  The  Clusia  rosea,  or  rose-flowered  balsam-tree,  is  a  handsome  tree,  growing  to 
the  height  of  20  or  30  feet,  and  inhabiting  America.  Its  seeds  are  often  carried 
by  birds  and  left  upon  the  limbs  or  trunks  of  other  trees.  Here  they  take  root, 
the  rootlets  crawling  along  the  stem  till  they  find  some  cavity  containing  decay- 
ing vegetable  matter.  When  the  nutritious  matter  of  this  is  exhausted  a  root  is 
sent  down  to  the  ground,  perhaps  a  distance  of  40  feet,  and  having  fixed  itself 
there  it  supplies  nourishment  to  the  whole  plant,  which  is  then  no  longer  a  mere 
parasite.  —  TR. 


372  THE    UNIVERSE. 

sorption  is  an  essentially  vital  phenomenon,  and  we  share  in 
the  most  unqualified  manner  this  opinion  of  the  greatest 
botanist  of  modern  times,  which  was  also  that  of  Senne- 
bier,  Saussure,  and  Desfontaines. 

To  the  suction  of  the  spongiole,  which  ceases  as  soon 
as  life  is  extinguished,  are  accessorily  joined  some  purely 
physical  forces,  such  as  endosmosis,  capillary  attraction,  and 
hygroscopic  action,  which  some  naturalists  have  erroneously 
looked  upon  as  the  special  agents  of  it. 

The  radicles  seem  to  select  instinctively  from  the  soil  the 
food  of  the  plant,  which  is  scattered  through  it,  just  as  out 
of  the  midst  of  the  nourishment  which  fills  the  intestine 
in  animals  the  chyliferous  vessels  pump  up  only  the  fluid 
which  is  to  regenerate  the  organism.  Like  the  latter,  the 
spongioles  of  plants  are  sometimes  deceived,  and  introduce 
along  with  the  sap  some  poison  which  kills  them.  But  ab- 
sorption is  so  little  left  to  the  chemico-physical  powers  that 
certain  plants  vegetate  in  soil  charged  with  deadly  sub- 
stances without  suffering  in  the  least  from  it.  In  the  coun- 
tries where  arsenic  abounds  there  are  some  which  brave  its 
corrosive  action.  Hence,  when  everything  else  is  dying 
round  them,  certain  leguminous  plants  cover  with  verdure 
the  rocky  soil  of  Cornwall,  which  contains  fifty  per  cent,  of 
arsenical  sulphuret,  while  the  rest  of  it  consists  of  silica  and 

sulphuret  of  iron.1 

By  means  of  very  simple  experiments  it  can  be  demon- 
strated that  absorption  by  the  roots  is  a  vital  act.  If,  on 

1  According  to  Dr.  Daubeny,  professor  at  Oxford,  the  sulphuret  of  arsenic,  con- 
tained in  small  quantities  in  the  soil,  produces  no  injurious  effect  upon  mustard, 
beans,  and  barley.  He  concludes  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  plants  possess  the 
power  of  selecting  from  the  constituents  of  the  soil  in  which  they  live. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  373 

the  one  hand,  a  root  be  plunged  uninjured  into  a  saline  so- 
lution, and,  on  the  other,  a  similar  plant  be  immersed,  after 
having  its  members  cut  short  off,  it  will  be  seen  at  the  end 
of  a  certain  time  that  the  uninjured  plant  has  not  absorbed 
the  salt  in  the  same  proportion  as  it  is  found  in  the  solution, 
whereas  that  which  has  had  its  roots  divided  has  been  aban- 


176.  Ice -Plant:  Mesembryanthemum  crystallinum  (Linnaeus). 

doned  to  the  dominion  of  physico-chemical  causes,  and  has 
pumped  up  the  liquid  without  making  any  selection.1 

Water  is  the  principal  food  of  the  plant,  but  the  radicles 
also  take  up  other  substances  from  the  earth.  They  re- 
quire carbon  and  nitrogen.  The  grasses  demand  a  certain 

1  The  sea,  which  contains  thirty  times  as  much  sodium  as  potassium,  furnishes 
to  some  of  the  Algae,  drawing  all  their  mineral  matter  from  it,  equal  quantities  of 
these  two  metals,  and  to  many  others  half  as  much  potassium  as  sodium.  —  TB. 


374  THE    UNIVERSE. 

quantity  of  silica.  The  stalk  of  the  wheat  plant  contains  a 
pretty  large  amount,  but  this  substance  strengthens  the 
powerful  stem  of  the  bamboo  in  a  much  more  decided  man- 
ner. According  to  Davy,  the  latter  contains  as  much  as 
seventy-one  parts  of  silica  in  a  hundred,  and,  like  our  flints, 
strikes  fire  with  the  steel.  According  to  De  Candolle,  anal- 
ysis demonstrates  that  other  vegetables  absorb  iron,  and 
even  gold.  Copper  has  also  been  found  in  coffee  and  wheat, 
and  a  chemist  has  computed  that  in  France  3650  kilo- 
grammes (8055  Ibs.  avoirdupois,  omitting  grains)  of  this 
metal  yearly  enter  into  our  food  through  the  medium  of 
this  cereal.1 

Seeing  the  quantity  of  water  that  plants  absorb  every 
day,  Boyle  concluded  that  this  fluid  was  alone  used  for  their 
nutrition.  The  opinion  of  the  celebrated  English  philoso- 
pher was  adopted  by  Van  Helmont,  and  he  thought  he  had 
proved  it  to  demonstration  when  he  saw  a  willow  continue 
to  flourish  which  he  only  watered  with  rain-water,  at  that 
time  considered  to  be  wonderfully  pure. 

Science  has  overthrown  these  views  by  proving  that  dis- 
tilled water  is  in  no  wray  sufficient  to  support  life  in  the 
plant. 

The  aerial  organs  of  vegetable  life  also  play  a  great  part 
in  absorption ;  watering  the  leaves  of  certain  plants  makes 

1  It  is  now  considered  that  the  inorganic  ingredients  in  plants  are  as  absolutely 
necessary  to  their  existence  as  carbon  and  oxygen.  In  addition  to  such  well- 
known  elements  of  tissue  as  silicon,  chlorine,  potassium,  etc.,  modern  research  has 
shown  the  presence  of  zinc,  fluorine,  cassium,  rubidium,  and  manganese.  All 
food,  however,  presented  to  the  plant  must  be  oxidized,  or  the  plant  cannot  take 
it  up.  It  is  even  probable  that  all  ammonia  becomes  oxidized  before  assimilation 
by  the  plant.  —  TR. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  375 

them  grow  with  as  much  rapidity  as  if  their  roots  were 
moistened.  Some  spongy  plants,  gorged  with  aqueous  fluid, 
seem  to  draw  their  nourishment  exclusively  from  the  atmos- 
phere. It  is  thus  that  in  the  burning  days  of  summer  I 
have  found  carpets  of  ice-plants  on  the  most  arid  rocks  in 
Greece.  Although  it  had  not  rained  for  a  month,  these 
plants  displayed  a  remarkable  freshness,  and  their  leaves 
were  none  the  less  covered  with  a  coating  of  icicles ! l 

The  absorption  effected  by  the  leaves  was  known  to  the 
ancients.  Theophrastus  makes  mention  of  it,  but  we  must 
come  to  the  epoch  of  Mariotte  to  reach  the  demonstration 


177.  Absorption  by  the  Leaves.    Mariotte's  experiment. 

of  this  phenomenon,  which  the  Greek  botanist  had  only 
pointed  out.  The  French  philosopher  attained  this  result 
by  means  of  a  very  simple  experiment.  He  took  a  bifur- 
cated branch,  and  placed  one  part  of  it  in  a  vessel  filled 
with  water,  while  the  other  remained  exposed  to  the  air. 
The  water  absorbed  by  the  former  sufficed  to  keep  the  lat- 

1  The  glacial  Mesembryanthemum  crystallinum  is  a  small  herbaceous  plant,  well 
known  in  science  on  account  of  its  strange  appearance.  It  has  literally  the  look 
of  a  plant  covered  with  drops  of  frozen  water.  This  appearance  is  due  to  exces- 
sive development  of  all  the  superficial  cells  of  the  plant,  which  are  like  so  many 
small  bags  filled  with  limpid  water. 


376  THE    UNIVERSE. 

ter  green  and  fresh  for  a  long  time.     Therefore  the  one  ab- 
sorbed for  the  other. 

We  must  not  omit  stating  that  there  are  even  certain 
plants  in  which  this  function  is  entirely  displaced ;  the  task 
is  confided  to  the  stem  only.  This  is  the  case  with  the  cac- 
tuses, —  strange  existences,  —  which  consist  solely  of  a 
monstrously  swollen  stem  covered  with  spines.  Growing 
only  among  rocks  and  sands  parched  by  the  sun,  where  all 
other  plants  around  them  wither  into  dust,  these  corpulent 
plants  exhibit  a  freshness  which  is  inexplicable.  By  some 
secret,  unknown  to  the  myriads  of  different  kinds,  the  desic- 
cated corpses  of  which  surround  them,  they  contrive  to  im- 
bibe from  the  atmosphere  the  abundance  of  water  which 
swells  out  their  tissues.  Among  these  "  heralds  of  ruined 
soils,"  as  Ch.  Miiller  calls  them,  the  roots,  represented  only 
by  a  few  dried  fibres,  draw  absolutely  nothing  from  the  cal- 
cined rock  which  supports  them.  It  is  therefore  the  stem 
which  nourishes  itself ;  the  leaves  are  so  rudimentary,  so 
little  apparent,  that  it  may  be  looked  upon  as  entirely  de- 
prived of  them. 

In  our  hot-houses  the  same  thing  may  be  seen  every  day. 
Cactuses,  which  are  never  watered,  thrive  there  splendidly 
by  means  of  the  moist  and  warm  atmosphere  with  which 
they  are  surrounded. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  377 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CIRCULATION   IN    PLANTS. 

THE  more  we  study  nature  the  grander  does  she  appear. 
Science,  by  penetrating  her  secrets,  often  shows  us  that 
hidden  and  imposing  forces  exist  where  we  only  see  inertia. 
The  obscure  vitality  of  plants,  brought  to  light  by  the  gen- 
ius of  naturalists,  sometimes  manifests  itself  to  our  eyes  in 
unexpected  power. 

Plants,  like  animals,  have  a  circulation.  It  is  to  that 
universal  genius,  Claude  Perrault,  at  one  and  the  same  time 
physician,  architect,  and  naturalist,  that  we  owe  the  dis- 
covery of  this  phenomenon.  The  sap,  which  is  in  fact  the 
blood  of  the  plant,  circulates  through  its  vessels  by  means 
of  a  power  possibly  greatly  exceeding  that  which  drives  the 
blood  through  the  arteries  of  an  elephant.  The  celebrated 
Hales  made  a  very  curious  experiment  on  this  subject. 
Having  fitted  a  long  tube  to  the  stem  of  a  young  vine 
which  he  had  severed,  he  saw  this  fluid  rise  forty -four  feet 
high.  These  results  appearing  very  extraordinary  to  the 
French  physiologists,  they  soon  repeated  the  experiments 
of  the  English  philosopher,  but  they  were  greatly  astonished 
to  see  that  they  were  within  the  mark.  In  fact,  De  Can- 
dolle,  who  was  one  of  the  last  to  move  in  the  matter,  noticed 
that  the  force  with  which  the  sap  rises  in  the  vessels  of  the 
plant  is  equal  to  the  pressure  of  two  atmospheres  and  a 
half,  —  a  force  which  enormously  exceeds,  and  indeed  al- 
most doubles,  the  results  obtained  by  the  Canon  of  Wind- 


378 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


sor,  since  it  is  equal  to  the  weight  of  a  column  of  water 

eighty  feet  in  height. 

Thus  in  an  occult  function,  which  is  performed  so  mys- 

teriously in  the 
vegetable  k  i  n  g- 
dom,  experiment 
reveals  a  power- 
ful energy,  —  an 
energy  which  sur- 
passes the  visible 
and  tumultuous 
circulation  in  the 
largest  animals. 
Many  physiolo- 
gists have  stated, 
not  without  some 
foundation,  that 
the  sap  rises  in 
the  vessels  of  the 
vine  with  at  least 
five  times  as  much 
I  force  as  the  blood 
circulates  in  the 
crural  artery  of 
the  horse,  —  the 

m  O  S  t     important 
111  i         e 

blood-vessel  of 
the  thigh,  —  and  with  seven  times  as  much  force  as  in  the 
same  vessel  in  the  dog. 

It  is  certain  that  the  blood  which  the  heart  projects  so 


178.  Force  of  Vegetable  Circulation  and  Absorption.     Hales'  ex- 
periment,  modified,  as  shown  at  the  Amphitheatre  of  Rouen. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  381 

violently  into  the  vessels  of  large  animals  is  not  driven  with 
so  much  power  as  impels  the  sap  in  its  ascending  move- 
ment. Indeed,  experiments  made  on  the  ox  and  horse 
have  shown  that  the  impulse  given  to  the  arterial  blood 
would  only  raise  a  column  of  blood  about  six  and  one  half 
feet;  the  advantage  is  therefore  not  at  all  on  the  side 
where  it  was  supposed  to  be,  since,  according  to  what  has 
been  already  stated,  the  vegetable  circulation  raises  a 
weight  fourteen  times  greater  than  does  that  of  the  lar- 
gest mammals. 

Thus  there  are  vessels  of  plants,  which,  though  not  so 
thick  as  a  hair,  are  yet  more  powerful  than  those  of  animals 
that  are  thicker  than  the  finger. 

After  having  made  his  experiments  on  the  force  of  ascent 
in  the  sap,  Hales  attempted  to  ascertain  the  rapidity  with 
which  it  moved.  In  order  to  attain  this  end,  he  hollowed 
out  a  deep  hole  in  the  soil,  laid  bare  a  small  root  of  a  tree, 
introduced  it  into  a  tube  filled  with  water,  and  plunged  the 
tube  into  mercury.  To  his  great  astonishment  he  very  soon 
perceived  that  the  metal  rose  in  the  tube  half  an  inch  per 
minute. 

We  repeat  this  experiment  in  our  amphitheatre  every 
year  in  presence  of  our  pupils,  but  not  being  able  to  try  it 
there  on  a  tree  planted  in  the  soil,  we  are  forced  to  take  an- 
other method  than  that  adopted  by  the  Canon  of  Windsor. 
We  simply  take  a  strong  branch  of  a  tree,  which  is  care- 
fully fitted  into  a  large  tube  filled  with  water  (see  Fig.  178). 
From  this  proceeds  a  long  narrow  tube,  the  end  of  which  is 
plunged  into  a  vessel  containing  water  colored  with  either 
carmine  or  indigo.  When  the  apparatus  is  properly  fitted, 


382  THE   UNIVERSE. 

the  water  in  the  larger  tube  is  rapidly  absorbed  by  the 
branch,  and  often  before  the  end  of  the  lesson,  in  the  short 
space  of  half  an  hour,  the  small  tube  is  quite  filled  with  the 
colored  liquid  which  was  contained  in  the  vessel.  This  ex- 
periment, carried  on  under  the  eyes  of  the  audience,  gives 
them  an  idea  at  once  of  the  force  of  suction  possessed  by 
plants,  and  of  the  energy  of  their  circulation. 

The  sap  is  formed  and  moves  with  such  force  in  certain 
plants  that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  be  able  to  extract  a  large 
quantity  of  it  in  a  short  space  of  time.  The  sugar-maple 
(Acer  saccharinum),  scattered  over  the  hills  of  Canada  and 
the  Northern  United  States,  produces  a  bucketful  in  a  day. 
It  is  from  this  tree  that  they  get  the  greatest  part  of  the 
sugar  consumed  in  the  country  where  it  grows.1 

For  this  purpose  it  is  only  necessary  to  pierce  the  tree 
with  a  wimble  ;  the  sap  runs  from  it,  and,  after  being  col- 
lected, is  evaporated  at  the  fire.  The  brown  sugar  con- 
denses at  the  bottom  of  the  evaporating  pans. 

In  the  tropical  countries  a  tree  yields  a  product  not  less 
precious  to  man,  —  a  wine  ready  made.  This  is  nothing 
else  than  the  sap  of  a  species  of  palm,  —  the  wine-bearing 
sago-palm  (Sagus  vinifera),  which  grows  in  Western  Africa, 
and  the  name  of  which  characteristically  indicates  the  ben- 
efits it  yields.  This  vinous  sap  is  mild  and  sweet  when 
first  drawn,  but  a  few  hours  afterwards  it  ferments,  and 

1  The  sap  of  the  sugar-maple  begins  to  rise  in  the  month  of  February.  In 
order  to  extract  it  they  simply  bore  a  hole  in  its  trunk  a  few  inches  deep,  and 
into  this  insert  a  tube,  which  allows  the  fluid  to  drop  into  a  pail.  When  fer- 
mented, it  furnishes  a  light  and  agreeable  wine,  and  when  evaporated  by  a  gentle 
heat  it  yields  a  brown,  viscid  syrup,  as  sweet  as  treacle,  which  is  converted  into 
little  sugar-loaves.  Each  tree  produces  yearly  two  to  four  pounds. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


383 


then  becomes  a  most  intoxicating  drink.     It  is  very  widely 
used,  and    the   tree  yields  it  in   profusion.      The  negroes 


180.  The  Wine-Tree,  or  Wine-Bearing  Sago-Palm:  Sayus  oinifera. 

quickly  fill  their  calabashes  with  it  by  hanging  them  to  the 
petioles  of  the  leaves,  which  for  this  purpose  are  cut  off 
soon  after  their  birth. 


384  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  vegetable  circulation  has  such  energy,  and  the  liquid 
which  it  bears  away  is  reproduced  at  such  a  rate,  that  Scott 
assures  us  that  out  of  certain  birch-trees  there  flows,  in 
spring,  a  quantity  of  fluid  equal  to  their  weight. 

Looking  at  results  so  totally  unexpected,  we  ask  what 
association  of  mysterious  forces  produces  such  phenomena. 
If  the  ancients  sometimes  went  astray  in  exaggerating  the 
faculties  of  the  plant,  our  epoch  has  often  fallen  into  the 
opposite  extreme. 

Many  modern  naturalists,  retrograding  towards  the  Carte- 
sian philosophy,  explain  the  vital  actions  of  the  plant  only 
by  the  intervention  of  purely  physical  or  chemical  forces. 
According  to  some,  their  circulation  is  merely  a  matter  of 
capillary  attraction,  or  endosmosis  ;  according  to  others,  it 
is  a  simple  fermentation,  or  a  series  of  electric  shocks. 

But  one  solitary  objection,  one  alone,  immediately  levels 
with  the  dust  all  these  hypotheses  which  the  materialist  so 
zealously  takes  up.  These  physico-chemical  phenomena  are 
so  little  the  initiatory  cause  of  the  circulation  that  they 
have  never  yet  proved  adequate  to  reanimate  life  in  a  plant 
which  has  been  killed  without  changing  the  tissues ;  and  if 
the  causes  of  life  were  absolutely  under  the  empire  of  ma- 
terial forces,  the  supporters  of  these  strange  opinions  which 
are  so  much  in  vogue  ought  to  be  able  to  resuscitate  dead 
organisms. 

But  we  are  happy  to  say  that  the  leading  minds  in  phys- 
iology have  not  fallen  into  the  errors  we  have^  touched 
upon. 

Our  immortal  anatomist  Bichat  did  not  hesitate  in  the 
least  on  this  point ;  he  set  an  example  to  all  by  attributing 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  385 

the  circulation  in  the  plant  to  the  same  cause  which  makes 
the  blood  move  in  the  capillary  vessels  of  animals. 

The  greatest  botanists  of  our  time  follow  the  author  of 
"  General  Anatomy."  De  Candolle  thinks  that  the  ascent  of 
the  sap  must  be  ascribed  to  the  vital  contraction  of  the  tis- 
sues ;  its  cause  he  considers  is  allied  to  life.  Achille  Kichard, 
after  a  general  view  of  the  whole  power  of  vegetable  circu- 
lation, compares  it  to  that  of  insects.1 

Schultz  of  Berlin,  who  has  so  deeply  studied  this  func- 
tion, considers  it  as  essentially  due  to  the  vital  action  of  the 
vessels.  By  means  of  the  microscope  we  can,  according  to 
him,  see  these  contract  in  order  to  propel  the  fluid  which 
they  contain.  The  learned  Prussian  even  perceives,  in  ref- 
erence to  this  phenomenon,  a  great  analogy  between  plants 
and  certain  inferior  animals  of  the  class  of  worms. 

After  such  authorities  it  is  impossible  to  hesitate  any 
longer,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  circulation  in 
plants  is  essentially  due  to  a  vital  cause.  Then  follow,  as 
accessory  powers,  the  various  actions  of  heat,  capillary  at- 
traction, endosmosis,  and  electricity.  With  the  aid  of  the 
microscope  any  person  can  convince  himself  of  the  truth  of 
everything  here  stated.  In  viewing  with  this  instrument 
plants  in  which  the  sap  contains  colored  granules,  we  see 
these  pass  rapidly  along  in  the  capillary  vessels.  Professor 

1  Achille  Richard,  so  illustrious  as  a  savant,  and  of  so  worthy  and  noble  a  char- 
acter, often  reverts  in  his  work  to  the  vital  power  in  plants.  On  this  subject  he 
expresses  himself,  when  speaking  of  the  circulation  in  plants,  in  the  following  au- 
thoritative manner  :  "  Here,  as  in  most  other  functions  of  animals  and  plants,  we 
must  admit  an  unknown,  powerful,  active  force,  the  result  of  organization  and 
life,  which  is  their  immediate,  indispensable  agent,  and  which  is  designated  vital 
force."  —  Richard,  Botanique  et  Physiologic  Vegetale,  Paris,  1846,  p.  238. 


386  TEE  'UNIVERSE. 

Schultz  even  says  that  in  certain  cases  these  vessels  may  be 
seen  contracting  so  as  to  force  onward  the  particular  juices 
which  they  contain. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE   RESPIRATION    OF   PLANTS. 

THE  largest  animals  —  the  whale,  the  rhinoceros,  the 
ostrich,  and  also  man  —  only  respire  air  by  one  channel, 
and  it  is  in  a  certain  degree  in  one  retort,  the  lungs,  that 
all  the  chemical  reactions  of  their  respiration  are  effected. 
In  this  respect  plants  are  better  provided  for  than  is  gen- 
erally supposed.  Instead  of  one  sole  apparatus,  the  micro- 
scopic laboratories  in  which  their  pneumatic  combinations 
are  mysteriously  carried  out  may  be  counted  by  thousands 
of  millions ;  a  single  leaf  sometimes  presents  more  than  a 
million  in  its  interstices. 

Leaves  are  in  fact  only  the  lungs  of  plants.  The  micro- 
scope discovers  on  their  surface  a  crowd  of  elongated  open- 
ings, with  swollen  edges,  and  not  unlike  the  button-holes 
of  our  dress.  These  are  the  stomata,  or  open  orifices  by 
which  the  air  enters  the  respiratory  chambers.  Of  ex- 
tremely restricted  size,  owing  to  their  being  in  the  thick- 
ness of  the  leaf,  these  invisible  little  chambers  are  hollowed 
out  in  the  cellular  tissue,  and  their  roofs  are  supported  by 
fine  colonnades  of  cells  placed  end  to  end,  the  marvellous 
labyrinth  of  which  is  traversed  by  the  air. 

Some  aquatic  plants,  which  live    in   the  depths  of   the 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  387 

rivers,  do  not  present  this  organization.  Having  no  con- 
nection with  the  atmosphere,  these  aerial  cavities  would  be 
of  no  service;  hence  they  display  quite  a  peculiar  arrange- 
ment, approaching  more  that  exhibited  by  fish,  which  have 
a  special  respiratory  apparatus,  the  branchiae,  so  disposed 
as  to  take  up  imperceptible  portions  of  air  contained  in  the 
water  in  large  enough  quantity  to  suffice  for  their  respira- 
tion. An  analogous  disposition  is  seen  in  certain  plants  of 
the  family  of  the  naiads,  Nai'adeaa,1  which  live  in  our  pools 
and  ditches.  Their  leaves  are  unprovided  with  epidermis, 
and  represent  a  kind  of  branchiae,  constructed  to  act  upon 
the  atmospheric  particles  contained  in  the  medium  in  which 
they  live.  Of  this  class  are  the  potamogetons,  or  pond- 
weeds,  which,  in  respect  to  their  respiration,  considered  in 
an  isolated  point  of  view,  are  in  reality  fish-plants. 

The  respiration  of  animals  is  injurious  to  the  composition 
of  the  atmospheric  air ;  they  vitiate  it  incessantly,  either  by 
absorbing  the  vital  principle  —  oxygen,  or  by  diffusing  in  it 
a  deadly  poison  —  carbonic  acid. 

It  has  been  calculated  that  the  human  species  alone  con- 
sumes annually  160,000  millions  of  cubic  yards  of  oxygen, 
and  that  animals  quadruple  this  amount. 

On  the  other  hand,  every  man  exhales  daily  about  8  oz. 
troy  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  which  gives  about  2i  oz.  troy  of 
combustible  carbon.  Hence,  without  reckoning  the  amount 
produced  by  animals,  the  quantity  of  carbon  poured  into 
the  atmosphere  by  the  population  of  France  alone  may  be 
computed  at  about  2,500,000  tons  per  annum. 

This  alarming  alteration  in  our  atmosphere  is  enough  to 

1  Also  called  Fluviales,  a  small  natural  order  of  endogens.  —  TR. 


388  THE    UNIVERSE. 

startle  one  ;  it  seems  as  if  it  must  bring  on  an  entire  de- 
struction of  animal  life.  But  by  the  side  of  the  disturbing 
element  Providence  has  placed  the  means  of  reparation  ; 
the  mantle  of  verdure  on  the  globe  remedies  all  the  disor- 
ders called  forth  by  the  animal  kingdom  ;  each  plant  repre- 
sents a  regular  machine  for  purifying  the  air. 

Plants  require  a  large  quantity  of  carbon  for  their 
nourishment  and  the  formation  of  their  solid  framework. 
For  this  purpose  they  absorb  all  the  carbonic  acid  they  can 
find  in  the  air,  and  then  fix  its  carbon  in  their  tissues  by 
exhaling  the  oxygen  ;  a  twofold  action,  in  the  course  of 
which  they  render  the  air  wholesome,  and  regenerate  it  by 
restoring  the  vital  gas  which  animals  absorb,  and  removing 
the  poison  which  they  continually  diffuse. 

This  harmonious  contrast  will  strike  every  one,  and  we 
see  that  it  is  destined  to  counteract  the  incessant  changes 
which  the  animal  kingdom  introduces  into  the  atmosphere, 
and  to  protect  it  from  all  serious  perturbation.  According 
to  M.  Brongniart,  the  law  of  equilibrium  is  such  at  this  mo- 
ment that  plants  seem  to  pour  into  the  atmosphere  as  much 
oxygen  as  animals  consume. 

Nothing  is  easier  than  to  estimate  the  quantity  of  oxygen 
which  plants  distil  at  every  pore  into  the  atmosphere.  For 
this  it  is  only  necessary  to  put  one  under  a  bell-glass  filled 
with  water;  as  soon  as  it  is  exposed  to  the  light,  all  its 
foliage  becomes  covered  with  bubbles  of  gas  which  are  dis- 
engaged from  it,  and  rise  without  ceasing  to  the  top  of  the 
vase.  If  we  now  analyze  the  product  collected  there,  we 
find,  from  the  brilliancy  it  gives  to  bodies  in  a  state  of  igni- 
tion, that  it  is  oxygen,  and  in  possession  of  all  its  attributes. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


389 


But  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  this  salutary  interven- 
tion of  plants  is  only  manifested  under  the  influence  of 
light.  Were  the  star  from  which  light  emanates  to  be  ex- 
tinguished, it  would  cease  in  a  moment,  and  the  globe, 
plunged  in  obscurity,  would  soon  be  deprived  of  its  green 
tunic.  Lavoisier  was  therefore  right  when  he  said  :  — 


181.  Respiration  of  Plants.     Disengagement  of  Oxygen  under  Water. 

"  Organization,  feeling,  spontaneous  movement,  and  life 
only  exist  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  or  in  parts  exposed  to 
light.  One  might  say  that  the  fable  of  the  torch  of  Pro- 
metheus expressed  a  philosophic  truth  which  had  not  es- 
caped the  ancients.  Without  light  nature  would  be  with- 
out life ;  she  would  be  dead  and  inanimate ;  a  beneficent 
Crod,  by  imparting  light,  has  shed  over  the  surface  of  the 
earth  organization,  sensation,  and  thought." 


390  THE    UNIVERSE. 

But  during  the  night  the  respiratory  phenomena  of  plants 
take  the  very  opposite  direction ;  then  they  act  like  ani- 
mals. They  absorb  the  vital  part  of  the  air  and  exude  car- 
bonic acid  by  all  their  pores,  to  such  an  extent  that  if  we 
sleep  in  a  close  chamber,  in  which  shrubs  have  been  impru- 
dently left,  the  air  is  as  much  vitiated  by  them  as  if  it  had 
contained  an  equal  number  of  men. 

But  this  nocturnal  respiration  is  far  from  neutralizing  the 
benefit  effected  by  the  diurnal  exhalation.  Plants  under 
the  influence  of  light  pour  into  the  atmosphere  much  more 
oxygen  than  they  absorb  by  night,  and  they  withdraw  from 
it  greatly  more  carbonic  acid  every  day  than  they  produce 
during  darkness. 

It  is  to  the  plant,  therefore,  that  the  task  of  maintaining 
the  harmonious  composition  of  the  air  is  intrusted.  It  is 
evident  that  were  the  important  function  confided  to  plants 
to  be  suddenly  annihilated,  all  the  animal  kingdom  would 
within  a  given  time  succumb  in  its  turn.  However,  accord- 
ing to  the  calculations  of  M.  Dumas,  the  atmosphere  is  so 
rich  in  oxygen  that  this  event  would  not  occur  till  after  a 
long  series  of  ages.  The  learned  chemist  maintains  that  it 
would  require  at  least  800,000  years  for  all  the  animals  on 
£he  globe  to  absorb  the  whole  of  this  gas,  and  that  10,000 
years  would  pass  without  its  diminution  being  made  sensi- 
ble by  our  most  perfect  instruments.1 

1  The  weight  of  the  air  which  encircles  us  is  equal  to  581,000  cubes  of  copper, 
1093  yards  on  every  side.  The  oxygen  in  it  weighs  as  much  as  134,000  of  these 
cubes.  Supposing  the  earth  to  be  peopled  by  1,000,000,000  souls,  and  taking  the 
animals  on  it  as  equivalent  to  3,000,000,000  men,  we  should  find  that  these  to- 
gether would,  in  a  century,  only  consume  a  weight  of  oxygen  equal  to  15  or  16  ot 
these  cubes  of  copper,  whilst  the  air  contains  134,000. 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  391 

By  means  of  ingenious  investigations,  Professor  Liebig 
has  even  proved  that  the  chemical  nature  of  the  atmosphere 
has  not  varied  sensibly  for  upwards  of  2000  years.  He 
took  one  of  the  little  glass  vases  in  which,  on  the  death  of 
persons  who  were  dear  to  them,  the  Roman  ladies  collected 
their  tears,  and  which,  after  being  partly  filled,  were  her- 
metically sealed  by  fusion,  and  deposited  in  the  sarcophagus 
with  the  dead.  The  lachrymal  vase  having  been  broken 
and  its  contents  analyzed,  the  great  chemist  found  that  the 
air  was  of  exactly  the  same  composition  as  the  fluid  which 
we  respire  nowadays. 

M.  Lacreze-Fossat  was  enabled,  by  means  of  delicate  ex- 
periments, to  determine  the  proportion  of  respirable  gas 
discharged  into  the  atmosphere  by  certain  plants.  This  ob- 
server noticed  that  in  twelve  hours  the  under  surface  of  the 
large  floating  leaves  which  the  yellow  water-lily  (Nymplicea 
luted)  spreads  out  on  our  rivers  produced  over  ten  cubic 
inches  of  oxygen.  And,  according  to  him,  a  single  speci- 
men of  this  plant,  composed  of  fifteen  leaves,  in  five  months 
exhaled  into  the  atmosphere  117.7  gallons. 

How  much,  then,  must  be  produced  in  a  single  season  by 
a  large  tree,  the  respiratory  surface  of  which  is  of  such  a 
size  compared  to  that  of  the  aquatic  plant  ! 

It  would  require  10,000  years  for  all  the  people  on  earth  to  produce  an  effect  on 
the  air  appreciable  by  Volta's  eudiometer  (an  instrument  for  measuring  the  purity 
of  the  air),  even  supposing  that  vegetable  life  remained  annihilated  during  all 
that  time.  Thus  the  proportion  of  oxygen  the  air  contains  is  guaranteed  for 
many  ages,  even  entirely  excluding  the  action  of  plants.  Nevertheless,  these 
incessantly  return  to  it  as  much  oxygen  as  it  loses,  and  perhaps  more,  for  plants 
also  exist  as  much  at  the  expense  of  the  carbonic  acid  furnished  by  volcanoes  as 
at  that  of  the  acid  expired  by  animals.  —  Dumas,  Essai  de  Statique  Chimlque  des 
Etres  Organises,  Paris,  1842,  p.  18. 


392  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  IY. 

TRANSPIRATION   IN    PLANTS. 

VEGETABLE  physiology  approaches  very  nearly  that  of 
animals.  Like  them,  plants  exhale  moisture  abundantly  by 
their  whole  surface.  It  is  this  which,  condensed  upon  the 
leaves  by  the  cold  of  night,  forms  on  them  limpid  little 
drops  of  water,  which  the  vulgar  incorrectly  ascribe  to  a 
deposit  of  atmospheric  moisture. 

The  idea  that  plants  transpire  like  animals  is  due  to 
Muschenbroeck,  one  of  the  professors  who  have  contributed 
most  to  rendering  the  University  of  Leyden  illustrious.  For 
this  purpose  he  covered  with  a  plate  of  lead  the  whole  cir- 
cumference of  the  root  of  a  white  poppy,  so  as  to  prevent 
the  vapor  of  the  earth  from  interfering  with  his  experiment. 
The  plant  was  then  covered  with  a  bell-glass  cemented  to 
the  lead.  After  that,  each  morning,  when  the  naturalist 
came  to  visit  the  imprisoned  plant,  he  observed  that  even 
during  the  driest  nights  its  leaves  were  covered  with  an  in- 
numerable quantity  of  those  drops  of  water  to  which  the 
name  of  dew  is  given,  and  that  the  sides  of  the  glass  them- 
selves were  quite  obscured  with  it.  It  is  not,  then,  from  the 
air  that  the  dew  upon  the  meadow  and  that  upon  the  leaf 
comes,  but,  as  the  Dutch  naturalist  discovered,  from  the 
transipration  of  the  plants ;  dew  is  nothing  else  but  their 
perspiration  condensed. 

This  fact  being  thoroughly  established,  it  only  remained 
to  decide  the  amount  which  vegetable  transpiration  pro- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  393 

duces.  Mariotte  tried  a  very  elementary  experiment  on 
this  head.  Having  cut  off  a  branch  and  covered  the  section 
with  impermeable  cement,  he  observed  that  the  leaves, 
while  withering,  had  lost  two  teaspoonfuls  of  water  in  two 
hours,  at  a  time  when  the  air  was  tolerably  warm.  The 
naturalist  therefore  concluded  that  in  twelve  hours  the 
branch  would  lose  a  dozen  teaspoonfuls. 

But  such  an  estimate  was  far  from  being  exact.     Guet- 


182.  Discovery  of  the  Transpiration  of  Plants.     Muschenbroeck's  experiment. 

tard  managed  better ;  he  conceived  the  idea  of  not  separat- 
ing the  branch  from  the  plant,  but  of  inclosing  it  in  a  globe 
of  glass,  terminating  outwardly  in  a  neck  which  was  in- 
serted into  a  flask.  When  all  was  hermetically  sealed,  the 
moisture  transpired,  condensing  itself  on  the  sides  of  the 
globe,  fell  drop  by  drop  into  the  bottle  situated  beneath  it, 
and  could  be  collected  without  the  slightest  loss,  so  that 
nature  was  left  to  herself. 

Inclosed  in  this  apparatus,  a  branch   of   a   cornel-tree, 


394  THE   UNIVERSE. 

weighing  only  five  drachms  and  a  half,  distilled  each  day 
an  ounce  and  three  drachms  of  water ;  that  is  to  say,  it 
transpired  double  its  weight  in  twenty-four  hours.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  this  was  a  result  which  was  far  from 
being  expected. 

When,  on  a  burning  summer  day,  exhausted  and  stream- 
ing with  perspiration,  we  see  in  the  by-nook  of  a  parterre 
the  garden  sunflower,  we  admire  its  heavy  floral  crown, 


183.  Transpiration  in  Plants.     Guettard's  experiment. 

turned  towards  the  luminary  which  it  ceaselessly  accom- 
panies in  its  course,  and  its  ample  and  motionless  leaves ; 
but  this  apparent  calm  veils  a  most  unexpected  vital  en- 
ergy. 

Who,  indeed,  would  think  that  the  perspiration  exhaled 
by  the  leaves  of  the  plant  is  more  copious  than  that  which 
moistens  our  foreheads  ?  Yet  science  has  proved  this ;  after 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


395 


demonstrating  the  existence  of  vegetable  transpiration,  it 
has  dared  to  estimate  comparatively  the  extent  of  it. 


, 


184.  Transpiration  in  the  Sunflower.     Hales'  experiment. 

An  old  physician  of  Padua,  Sanctorius,  whose  originality 
has  become  celebrated,  had  the  patience  to  pass  a  great 


396  THE   UNIVERSE. 

part  of  his  life  in  a  pair  of  scales,  weighing  and  reweighing 
himself  every  minute  in  the  day,  in  order  to  ascertain  how 
much  loss  his  body  underwent  by  transpiration.1 

Hales,  without  having  the  same  perseverance,  attempted 
to  ascertain  what  weight  of  water  a  sunflower  lost  daily  by 
its  leaves.  For  this  purpose  he  put  one  of  these  plants  into 
a  pot,  the  upper  surface  of  which,  hermetically  closed  with 
a  plate  of  lead,  only  presented  one  small  neck  through 
which  it  could  be  watered.  By  weighing  this  sunflower 
daily  his  scales  showed  him  that  it  lost,  by  the  transpiration 
of  its  leaves  only,  twenty  ounces  of  water  in  the  twenty- 
four  hours. 

The  experimenter,  having  subsequently  calculated  the 
difference  in  extent  between  the  skin  of  a  man  and  the 
leaves  of  a  sunflower,  found  that  the  former  is  to  the  latter 
as  26  to  10,  and  that  consequently,  with  equal  surfaces,  the 
insensible  transpiration  of  the  sunflower  is  seventeen  times 
as  great  as  our  own. 

In  some  plants  the  phenomenon  does  not  take  place  so 
mysteriously ;  their  leaves  transpire  with  surprising  abun- 
dance ,  water  streams  from  all  their  pores. 

Ruysch  states  that  an  Arum,  which  he  kept  in  a  green- 
house in  the  botanical  garden  at  Amsterdam,  distilled  water 
drop  by  drop  from  the  extremities  of  its  leaves  in  propor- 
tion, so  to  speak,  as  it  was  watered. 

One  might  think  there  was  some  hyperbole  in  this,  but 
recent  and  curious  observations,  which  we  owe  to  an  ex- 
perimenter of  Toulouse,  have  proved  the  thorough  exact- 

1  Experiments  show  that  on  an  average  a  man  loses  2.2  Ibs.  avoirdupois  of  wa- 
tery vapor  by  means  of  his  skin  in  twenty-four  hours. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


39T 


ness  of  the  fact  put  forward  by  the  great  Dutch  anatomist. 
M.  Ch.   Musset  has   discovered  that  a   plant  of  the  same 


185.  Edible  Arum:  Colocasia  esculenta  (Schott.) 

family  as  has  been  mentioned,  the  Edible  Arum,  launches 
little  drops  of  water  in  the  form  of  a  jet  into  the  air,  and 
that  these  exhale  from  the  pores  which  we  see  on  the  tips 


398  THE   UNIVERSE. 

of  its  magnificent  heart-shaped  leaves,  undulated  like  the 
waves  of  the  sea.  The  ingenious  and  learned  observer  of 
this  extraordinary  phenomenon  noticed  that  from  each  of 
these  orifices  from  ten  to  a  hundred  drops  of  water  were 
thrown  every  minute  the  distance  of  an  inch  or  more. 

But  the  vegetable  marvel  in  respect  to  transpiration  is 
the  weeping-tree,  which  was  seen  some  years  ago  in  one  of 
the  Canary  Islands.  The  water  fell  like  copious  rain  from 
its  tufted  foliage,  —  a  fact  which  botanists  sought  to  express 
by  calling  it  Ccesalpinia  pluviosa.  Collected  at  the  foot  of 
the  tree,  it  formed,  it  is  said,  a  kind  of  pond,  from  which 
the  inhabitants  of  the  vicinity  furnished  themselves  with 
water.1 

At  first  I  suspected  some  exaggeration  in  the  accounts 
given  by  travellers  as  to  the  transpiration  of  this  extraor- 
dinary tree ;  but  after  seeing  an  arborescent  Fuchsia  in  one 
of  the  greenhouses  of  the  botanical  garden  of  Rouen  rain 
down  so  nrnch  water  upon  the  plants  round  about  it  that  it 
was  necessary  to  remove  them,  I  have  believed  the  state- 
ments. 

'  The  insensible  transpiration  is  demonstrated  by  the  most 
simple  experiment.  It  is  only  necessary  to  place  a  plant 
under  a  dry  bell-glass,  the  base  of  which  is  plunged  in  mer- 

1  In  the  Hlstoria  de  la  Conquista  de  las  Mas  Canarias,  by  Juan  de  Abreu 
Galindo,  it  is  stated  that  there  was  at  Hierro  (Ferro)  a  laurel-tree,  which,  accord- 
ing to  M.  Roulin,  was  perhaps  the  Laurus  fastens,  that  furnished  the  natives  of 
the  island  with  drinking  water.  This  fluid  distilled  drop  by  drop  from  the  foliage, 
and  was  preserved  in  cisterns.  This  marvellous  vegetable  fountain  was,  during 
part  of  the  day,  enveloped  in  a  cloud,  from  the  bosom  of  which  it  drew  its  sup- 
ply of  water.  But  the  tradition  of  the  tree  quoted  by  the  old  historian  of  the 
seventeenth  century  is  no  longer  found  among  the  conquerors  of  the  island. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


401 


cury.  In  a  few  seconds  all  the  inner  surface  of  the  glass  is 
covered  with  tiny  drops  of  water,  which  become  condensed 
and  run  downwards. 


,;  \    , -.  &&.........:..., : ^-.,- 

:    |:V  i  ilplaH 

•:-:ii::    :\  v':':;!: WHf.::i;:i!!ii2::ii:nHi!!n!!!!:!:i:i:i"iii:i"::!!S!i!iii:!:i:::vM 


187.  Pitcher-Plant :  Nepenthes  distillatoria    (Linnasus). 

The  leaves  of  other  plants,  more  tenacious   of  the  per- 
spiration they    distil,   collect  it   in  little    cups,  which    are 


402  THE    UNIVERSE. 

found  at  their  ends,  sometimes  constantly  open,  sometimes 
closing  and  opening  by  means  of  a  movable  lid. 

In  the  first  rank  we  ought  to  place  the  famous  Nepenthes 
distillatoria,  or  pitcher-plant,  met  with  in  Southern  Asia. 
Its  leaves  display  a  strong  mid-rib,  which  extends  beyond 
the  blade,  and  ends  in  an  elegant  cylindrical  cup,  provided 
with  a  hinged  lid,  which  spontaneously  opens  and  closes,  ac- 
cording to  the  state  of  the  atmosphere.  During  the  night 
this  lid  sinks  down,  and  hermetically  closes  the  little  vase, 
which  then  fills  with  limpid  water,  exhaled  by  its  walls. 
During  the  day  the  lid  is  raised,  and  the  fluid  evaporates 
more  or  less  completely.  The  beneficent  nepenthe  has 
often  quenched  the  thirst  of  the  Indian  lost  in  his  burning 
deserts. 

In  the  marshy  forests  of  Southern  America,  Providence 
has  intrusted  this  task  to  another  distilling  plant,  the  Purple 
Sarracenia,  the  structure  of  which  is  no  less  eccentric.  Its 
leaves,  uniting  at  their  edges,  are  transformed  into  elegant 
amphorae,  the  narrow  opening  of  which  is  surmounted  by 
an  ample  green  auricle,  decorated  with  scarlet-red  veins,  to 
which  the  species  owes  its  name.  These  cups,  presents 
from  the  empire  of  Flora,  and  which  rise  from  spot  to  spot 
at  the  feet  of  the  traveller,  are  filled  with  pure  and  de- 
licious water,  for  the  benefit  of  which  he  is  all  the  more 
grateful  that  he  is  encircled  by  nothing  but  marshes,  the 
water  of  which  is  lukewarm  and  nauseous. 

Generally,  transpiration  from  the  leaves  only  takes  place 
by  their  under  surface.  Knight  demonstrated  this  by  a 
very  simple  experiment.  He  inclosed  a  vine  leaf  between 
two  plates  of  glass,  and  observed  that  only  the  plate  in  con- 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  403 

tact  with  this  side  was  covered  with  the  secretion.  I  suc- 
ceeded still  better,  and  make,  I  believe,  the  experiment 
more  scientific,  by  using  a  leaf  of  the  Indian  chestnut  at- 
tached to  its  branch,  and  sucking  up  the  water  into  a  vase 


188.  The  Purple  Sarracenia:  Sarracenia  purpurea  (Linnaeus). 

at  hand  in  proportion  as  it  transpires.  All  the  under  sur- 
face of  the  leaf  is  speedily  covered  with  little  drops  of  water 
visible  to  the  eye,  and  which  obscure  the  glass  it  is  in  con- 
tact with,  whilst  that  to  which  the  other  surface  is  applied 
barely  shows  traces  of  vapor. 


404  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  Y. 

GROWTH. 

THE  growth  of  our  trees  was  for  long  an  impenetrable 
mystery. 

Duhamel  maintained  that  it  was  the  bark  which  produced 
the  wood,  and  for  more  than  a  century  this  was  believed  on 
the  faith  of  the  celebrated  academician,  who  had  made  so 
many  experiments  on  the  subject.  It  did  not  occur  to  any 
one  to  ask  him  from  whence  the  bark  came. 

After  many  discussions  it  has  at  last  been  shown  that  the 
woody  structure  and  its  envelope  grow  at  their,  junction, 
each  in  its  own  way :  the  bark  growing  towards  the  inte- 
rior, the  wood  outwards  by  concentric  layers,  which  are 
piled  up  one  above  the  other.  One  is  produced  each  year, 
so  that  by  counting  the  circular  zones  at  the  base  of  a 
trunk  their  number  gives  the  exact  age  of  a  tree. 

Long  before  this  fact  had  been  taught  as  a  dogma  by 
botanists  it  was  known  to  the  vulgar.  Mention  is  made  of 
it  in  Michel  Montaigne's  "  Voyage  en  Italie,"  a  singular 
production,  wherein,  instead  of  Italy,  we  find  only  a  list  and 
the  effects  of  different  remedies  which  the  illustrious  Mayor 
of  Bordeaux  employed  in  every  town  he  passed  through. 
A  journeyman  turner  showed  him  that  he  could  compute 
the  age  of  trees  very  well  from  sections  of  them.  "  He 
taught  meV'  he  says,  "  that  all  trees  bear  as  many  circles 
as  they  have  endured  years,  and  pointed  it  out  to  me  in  all 
those  he  had  in  his  shop.  And  that  part  which  looks  to- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  405 

wards  the  north  is  narrower  and  has  closer  and  denser  rings 
than  the  other."  l 

At  a  later  date,  Adanson,  the  botanist,  was  enabled,  by 
means  of  observation,  to  prove  how  exact  were  the  state- 
ments of  our  celebrated  writer.  An  avenue  of  trees  in  the 
Champs-Elysees,  planted  200  years  previously,  being  cut 
down  in  his  time,  the  same  number  of  woody  zones  was 
found  in  a  transverse  section  of  the  trunks  of  each  one. 
This  section  therefore  showed  their  age. 

These  views  about  growth  explain  certain  phenomena 
which  have  often  been  considered  miraculous. 

When,  as  an  imperishable  testimony  to  their  constancy, 
two  lovers  carve  their  entwined  initials  upon  the  bark,  the 
chisellings  on  the  tree,  alas !  do  not  endure  longer  than 
their  vows.  The  incessant  separation  which  the  parts  of 
this  envelope  undergo,  owing  to  annual  growth,  first  dis- 
torts and  then  totally  effaces  the  letters. 

But  if  the  engraving  penetrate  deeper,  if  the  tool  pass 
through  the  layers  of  the  bark  and  reach  the  wood,  all  goes 
differently  ;  the  workman  has  carved  upon  solid  matter.  As 
years  only  cause  the  deposit  of  new  woody  layers  upon  the 
surface  of  the  work,  this  is  preserved  intact.  And  when, 
after  a  long  lapse  of  time,  the  trunk  is  cleft,  the  chisellings 
are  revealed  to  our  astonished  eyes,  in  marvellous  preserva- 
tion and  in  the  depths  of  its  layers. 

Solid  bodies  introduced  into  the  wooded  layers  are  speed- 
ily covered  by  and  soon  disappear  beneath  them.  Professor 

1  M.  Ch.  Musset  states  that  the  trunks  of  trees  are  always  flattened  in  a  north- 
erly and  southerly  direction,  and  expand  in  an  east  and  west  plane  :  a  fact  which 
he  considers  quite  in  accordance  with  astronomical  laws. 


406  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Desfontaines  used  to  show  us  regularly  at  his  lectures  the 
horn  of  a  stag  which  had  become  almost  entirely  enveloped 
by  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  into  which  the  animal  had,  no  doubt, 
thrust  the  horn  some  little  way  in  getting-  rid  of  it. 

Some  few  years  ago,  when  a  large  tree  in  the  environs  of 
Orleans  was  cleft,  a  cavity  quite  closed  up  was  found  to- 
wards its  centre,  containing  a  death's-head  and  cross-bones. 
The  astonishment  of  the  public  was  extreme,  and  the  prod- 
igy was  talked  about  everywhere.  But  really  the  whole 
turned  upon  a  vital  phenomenon  of  which  physiology  gives 
a  complete  explanation.  At  a  distant  epoch  some  anchorite 
of  the  forest,  having  probably  hollowed  the  tree,  prostrated 
himself  and  prayed  before  these  human  relics,  which  he 
placed  in  the  excavation.  Then  the  recluse  having  disap- 
peared in  the  course  of  years,  nature  took  up  the  work 
again,  and  ingeniously  preserved  the  oratory  by  covering 
it  with  thick  woody  layers. 

During  the  siege  of  Toulon,  a  ball  from  the  English  fleet 
entered  deep  into  the  stem  of  a  pine  standing  near  the 
town.  The  wound  is  now  invisible.  Should  this  tradition 
be  lost,  how  astonished  would  any  one  be,  on  cutting  down 
the  tree,  to  find  this  enormous  mass  of  iron ! 

Generally  the  denser  plants  are  the  slower  in  their 
growth ;  on  the  contrary,  the  softer  their  tissues  the  more 
rapidly  are  they  developed. 

Certain  plants  astonish  us  in  this  respect,  and  there  are 
even  some  the  vital  energy  of  which  is  so  active  that  we 
can  in  some  measure  pry  into  the  secrets  of  their  evolution ; 
accordingly  Cavanilles  conceived  the  idea  of  seeing  the 
plant  grow.  For  this  purpose  he  directed  strong  glasses, 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


407 


furnished  with  a  horizontal  micrometric  thread,  upon  the 
end  of  the  stem  of  certain  plants,  just  as  astronomers  do 
when  they  place  the  cross-thread  of  the  telescope  athwart  a 
star  of  which  they  want  to  ascertain  the  movement.  The 


189.  Gigantic  Lycoperdon,  or  Puff-Bali,  Lycoperdon  yiyanteum  (Batsch),of  one  night's  growth. 

From  nature. 

Spanish  botanist  made  his  observations  principally  on  agaves 
and  bamboos.  With  the  latter  the  experiments  might  yield 
very  clear  results,  as  they  grow  with  such  rapidity  that  we 
sometimes  see  them  attain  the  height  of  a  three-storied 
house  in  a  month. 

A  bamboo  which  grew  a  few  years  ago  in  one  of  the 
greenhouses  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  at  Paris  lengthened 
out  its  stem  at  the  rate  of  about  five  inches  and  four  fifths 
daily,  so  that  it  could  easily  have  been  seen  growing,  as  its 


408  THE   UNIVERSE. 

upward  movement  was  as  quick  as  that  of  the  large  hand 
of  a  time-piece. 

But  a  still  more  extraordinary  fact  is  noticed  with  respect 
to  certain  Fungi,  and  it  may  be  said  of  them,  without  hy- 
perbole, that  they  grow  visibly.  This  is  the  case  with  the 
gigantic  Lycoperdon  (Ly  coper  don  giyanteum\  which,  spring- 
ing from  a  seed  so  small  that  it  absolutely  escapes  our  sight, 
reaches  the  size  of  a  gourd  in  one  night ;  so  that  it  may  be 
said,  without  any  exaggeration,  that  this  plant,  of  a  most 
degraded  order,  acquires  a  bulk  which  our  children  require 
ten  years  to  attain.  This  fungus  being  only  composed  of 
microscopic  cells,  an  immense  number  are  required  to  make 
it  up,  and  besides  they  must  grow  with  prodigious  rapidity. 
Lindley  calculates  that  a  Lycoperdon  like  this  contains  more 
than  47,000,000,000  cells,  and  that,  taking  the  time  of  its 
evolution  at  twelve  hours,  it  produces  about  4,000,000,000 
cells  every  hour,  and  96,000,000  every  minute. 

But  what  a  much  more  feverish  activity  must  reign  in 
the  vital  laboratory  of  those  monstrous  lycoperdons,  nine 
feet  in  circumference,  of  which  Bulliard  speaks  in  his  "  His- 
tory of  Fungi "  ! 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    SECRETIONS. 

IN  every  part  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  the  most  ex- 
traordinary contrasts  are  seen.  We  find  them  as  well  in 
the  details  as  in  the  organism  viewed  as  a  whole ;  in  the 
aspect  of  a  plant  as  in  the  obscure  functions  of  the  cell. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  409 

The  same  pores  exude  at  one  time  a  beneficent  nourish- 
ment, at  another  a  treacherous  poison  ;  demulcent  juices  or 
corrosive  liquids.  The  same  fruit,  or  the  same  root,  nour- 
ishes or  instantly  kills  us. 

The  tapioca,  on  which  the  American  savage  feeds,  and 
which  is  so  often  employed  at  our  tables,  abounds  in  the 
midst  of  a  poison  as  deadly  as  the  philters  of  Locusta.  The 
edible  portion  is  taken  out  for  the  purposes  of  commerce  ; 
but  the  negroes,  when  they  want  to  commit  suicide,  eat  the 
root  whole.  The  effect  is  almost  as  rapid  as  that  of  prussic 
acid.1 

On  one  spot  bloom  friendly  flowers,  the  folds  of  which 
only  distil  a  perfumed  nectar  that  the  bee  transforms  into 
honey ;  elsewhere,  sombre  corollas,  like  those  of  the  crown- 
imperial,  and  some  azaleas,  exude  only  venomous  juices. 
Woe  to  the  insect  that  feeds  thereon,  for  they  yield  only 
deadly  products.  Our  readers  will  recollect  the  accident 
which  overtook  the  army  of  Xenophon  near  Trebizond, 

1  Two  products  which  are  extensively  used  as  food  for  man,  cassava  and  tapi- 
oca, are  elaborated  in  the  midst  of  the  most  deadly  juices.  They  are  both  furnished 
by  the  root  of  the  Manihot  utilissima  (the  Janipha  Manihot),  found  extensively 
in  Africa  and  the  West  Indies.  The  negroes  are  well  acquainted  with  the  viru- 
lence of  this  poison  ;  but  as  it  is  very  volatile  and  easily  decomposed,  being  consid- 
ered analogous  to  prussic  acid,  it  is  easily  destroyed  and  rendered  powerless  by 
fermentation,  so  that  the  rude  tribes  of  America  manage  to  extract  from  the 
starchy  root  of  the  manioc  the  nourishing  food  so  often  served  up  at  our  tables 
under  the  name  of  tapioca. 

It  is  composed  of  tolerably  pure  fecula,  which  is  collected  with  care,  but  the 
farina  of  manioc,  on  which  so  many  of  the  American  races  feed,  is  coarser.  All 
they  do  in  order  to  extract  it  is  to  press  the  roots  of  the  plant  ;  the  result  of 
which  is  a  mixture  of  starch,  vegetable  fibre,  and  extractive  matter.  It  is  after- 
wards dried  in  chimneys,  and  when  desiccation  is  sufficiently  advanced  it  is  pow- 
dered, and  bread  is  made  of  the  flour  it  yields. 


410  THE    UNIVERSE. 

in  the  famous  retreat  of  the  ten  thousand  Greeks.  His 
soldiers,  weakened  with  hunger  and  fatigue,  having  seized 
eagerly  upon  some  honey  which  they  found  near  the  sea, 


190.  The  Tapioca  Plant  and  its  Root:  Manihot  utilissima  (Pohl). 

all  fell  to  the  ground  a  few  moments  afterwards,  danger- 
ously poisoned.  Tournefort  rightly  ascribes  this  accident 
to  the  bees  of  the  country  having  imbibed  the  juices  con- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  411 

tained  in  the  calices  of  the  Azalea  pontica,  which  he  ob- 
served to  be  poisonous. 

The  hand  of  Providence  draws  freely  from  the  vegetable 
kingdom  to  satisfy  our  pleasures  and  our  wants. 

The  petals  of  the  rose,  the  jasmine,  and  the  tuberose  are 
steeped  in  precious  essences,  which  perfume  the  air  all 
round  them,  and  of  which  art  bereaves  them  in  large  quan- 
tities for  the  refinements  of  luxury.1 

Other  plants  of  more  modest  appearance,  such  as  mint, 
rosemary,  balm,  and  lavender,  are  better  provided  in  this 
respect,  for  their  odoriferous  oils  exhale  from  all  their 
tissues,  and  they  pour  them  forth  even  more  freely  than 
the  others.  The  species  which  contain  them  sometimes  be- 
tray themselves  by  perfuming  the  air  to  a  great  distance. 
Bartholin  tells  us  that  the  odor  of  the  rosemary  indicates 
the  coast  of  Spain  more  than  ten  leagues  out  at  sea,  and  the 

1  The  tissues  of  the  plants  of  India,  Mexico,  and  Peru  are  impregnated  with 
precious  aromatics,  but  it  is  from  the  south  of  Europe  that  commerce  draws  the 
principal  part  of  the  perfumes  which  we  enjoy.  The  mild  temperature  of  Pro- 
vence is  wonderfully  suited  to  the  culture  of  the  sweet-smelling  plants  of  all  coun- 
tries, and  hence  this  province  is  familiarly  styled  the  garden  of  Europe.  This 
cultivation  is  carried  on  chiefly  in  the  environs  of  Grasse,  Nice,  and  Cannes. 

The  consumption  of  flowers  in  the  establishment  of  M.  Hermann  alone,  one  of 
the  principal  perfumers  of  Cannes,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  importance  of  this 
branch  of  commerce.  He  uses  yearly  above  153,000  Ibs.  of  orange  flowers,  13,000 
Ibs.  of  black-currant  flowers,  more  than  153,000  Ibs.  of  rose  flowers,  35,000  Ibs. 
of  jasmine  flowers,  22,000  Ibs.  of  violets,  8800  Ibs.  of  tuberoses,  without  counting 
the  mint  and  rosemary  which  are  so  common  all  through  Provence.  [Great  quan- 
tities of  the  flowers  grown  in  the  south  of  France  are  used  by  the  London  per- 
fumers, and  the  flower  season  is  watched  as  anxiously  there  as  the  grain  harvest 
in  other  districts.  The  only  blossom  for  which  this  climate  is  better  suited  than 
any  other,  and  which  is  used  to  any  extent  by  perfumers,  is  that  of  lavender,  the 
French  being  of  very  inferior  quality.  —  TR.] 


412  THE   UNIVERSE. 

old  historian  Diodorus  Siculus  relates  something  analogous 
with  respect  to  Arabia. 

The  sugar-cane  (Saccharum  officinarum),  originally  a 
native  of  India  and  Arabia  Felix,  fills  its  pith  with  the 
alimentary  substance  which  has  been  for  so  many  ages  ex- 
tracted from  it. 

Strabo,  in  his  "  Geography/'  speaking  of  the  productions 
of  these  two  countries,  and  Dioscorides  also,  in  his  great 
repertory  of  medical  lore,  evidently  make  mention  of  this 
grass.  The  former  says  it  is  a  reed  which  yields  honey. 
Dioscorides  is  still  more  explicit.  According  to  him,  the 
reeds  of  India  and  Arabia  yield  a  congealed  thick  honey  as 
hard  as  salt,  which  crumbles  between  the  teeth,  and  which 
is  called  sugar.  According  to  the  learned,  the  Chinese  have 
understood  the  culture  of  the  sugar-cane  and  the  art  of  ex- 
tracting its  produce  from  the  remotest  antiquity. 

Belon  even  says  that  this  plant  is  mentioned  in  a  host  of 
Indian  and  Arabic  works ;  and  Humboldt  seems  to  confirm 
all  this  by  attesting  that  it  is  found  drawn  upon  the  oldest 
China  porcelain. 

Thus,  then,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  sugar-cane  is 
indigenous  in  the  Old  World,  and  that  its  culture  goes  back 
to  a  very  remote  period. 

But  it  was  towards  the  thirteenth  century  that  the  mer- 
chants who  imitated  Marco  Polo,  by  bringing  the  products 
of  India  overland  to  Europe,  introduced  the  plant  into  Nu- 
bia and  Egypt,  from  whence,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  it 
was  carried  to  Sicily,  Syria,  and  Madeira.  From  thence  it 
was  finally  transported  to  America  soon  after  its  discovery. 

Another  grass  maize  (Zea  Mays),  also  contains  sugar  in 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  413 

its  stem,  but  it  was  not  so  much  on  account  of  this  as  for 
the  sake  of  its  beauty  and  its  use  as  an  article  of  food  that 
it  became  almost  sacred  among  the  ancient  races  in  Amer- 
ica. The  Peruvian  virgins,  themselves  devoted  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  sun,  made  bread  from  it,  which  the  Incas  offered 
as  a  sacrifice.  And  when  the  sacred  plant  failed  in  their 
gardens,  they  substituted  gold  and  silver  imitations.1 

Manna,  also  valuable  in  many  respects,  is  the  ready-pre- 
pared sugar  furnished  by  a  tree.  It  runs  and  hardens  on 
the  trunk  and  branches  of  the  flowering-ash,  which  is  culti- 
vated in  Sicily,  and  from  which  the  white  and  sugary  sta- 
lactites are  collected  by  means  of  a  wooden  knife.2 

On  the  other  hand,  the  trunks  and  fruits  of  some  curious 
trees  are  quite  covered  with  a  thick  coat  of  wax,  exactly 
similar  to  that  of  the  bee,  and  which  is  used  instead  of  it 
for  giving  light  and  other  purposes.  Among  these  is  the 
wax-palm  (Ceroxylon  Andicola),  found  in  the  Andes,  the 
stipe  of  which  is  incrusted  with  this  substance,  which  the 
savages  remove  by  rubbing  it  off  as  they  climb  the  tree. 

1  Maize  certainly  comes  originally  from  America,  though  it  is   erroneously 
called  in  some  parts  Turkish  and  Indian  wheat,  under  the  supposition  that  it  is 
indigenous  to  these  countries.    If  this  beautiful  gramineous  plant  had  belonged  to 
the  old  continent,  the  ancient  naturalists  and  authorities  on  farming  would  not 
have  failed  to  mention  it,  and  yet  it  is  not  spoken  of  in  the  writings  of  Theo- 
phrastus,  Pliny,  Columella,  and  Dioscorides.     And  while  no  author  names  it  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  Columbus,  we  see,  on  the  contrary,  the  first  describers  of 
America  constantly  speaking  of  it. 

2  The  manna  used  in  medicine  is  principally  procured  from  the  flowering-ash 
(Fraxinus  ornus),  which  is  cultivated  for  this  purpose  in  Sicily  and  Calabria. 
Other  trees  produce   analogous  substances.     The  larch-tree    (Larix  Europcea, 
Linn.)  furnishes  the  manna  of  Briancon.     In  some  countries   even   herbs  are 
covered  with  an  abundant  sugary  exudation. 


414 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


The  candleberry-myrtle  (Myrica  cerifera)  is  another,  but 
in  it  the  precious  substance  exudes  from  the  fruit,  and  is 


191.  Manna-Tree,  Fraxinus  ornus  (Linnaeus),  and  Manna-Gathering  in  Sicily. 

extracted  by  simply  boiling  it,  the  wax  quickly  rising  to  the 
top. 

Again,  some  vegetable  secretions,  formed  in    obscurity, 
deep  in  the  sterns  of  certain  trees,  and  gathered  by  the  in- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


415 


telligent  hand  of  man,  add  to  the  wealth  of  nations.  Thus 
the  French  pine  spreads  its  treasures  over  the  once  sterile 
heaths  of  Bordeaux.  From  incisions  made  in  it  flows  a 


192.  Combustion  of  the  Vapors  of  Bastard  Dittany:  Dictamnus  Fraxinella  (Persoon). 

turpentine,  which  the  resin  -  gatherers,  active  as  monkeys, 
collect  in  numberless  cups  suspended  to  the  trunks  of  the 
trees.1 

1  The  resin  is  extracted  when  the  maritime  pine  has  reached  the  age  of  twenty 


416  THE    UNIVERSE. 

It  is  this  secretion  that  gives  to  the  coniferous  woods  such 
power  of  endurance ;  the  more  it  abounds  in  their  resinous 
ducts,  the  greater  lapse  of  ages  can  they  endure.  The 
wood  of  the  Canary  Islands  pine  (Pinus  Canariensis)  is 
quite  impregnated  with  it,  and  is  therefore  almost  imperish- 
able. The  ancient  dwellings  in  Teneriffe,  which  were  en- 
tirely built  of  this  wood  more  than  four  centuries  and  a  half 
ago,  when  the  island  was  conquered,  are  quite  as  fresh  as 
when  they  were  built.  The  resin  still  exudes  from  all  their 
beams  during  the  heat  of  summer. 

Some  plants,  instead  of  distilling  their  resinous  products 
drop  by  drop,  form  a  gaseous  vapor,  and  this  clings  so  close 
around  the  plant  that  if,  during  the  twilight  of  a  still,  burn- 
ing hot  summer  day,  we  approach  it  with  a  lighted  candle, 
the  vapor  takes  fire,  and  produces  a  bright  light,  which 
envelops  all  the  foliage,  sparkling  like  the  lycopodium 

to  thirty  years.  In  order  to  obtain  it,  workmen,  called  resin-gatherers,  remove 
with  an  axe  the  coarse  bark  from  the  lower  part  of  the  trunk,  over  a  surface 
about  a  foot  wide  and  a  foot  and  a  half  high.  On  this  surface  they  afterwards 
excavate  with  a  small  hatchet,  the  head  of  which  is  shaped  like  a  gouge,  a  still 
deeper  cutting,  which  lays  bare  the  most  superficial  of  the  woody  zones,  for  it  is 
between  these  and  the  bark  that  the  resin  flows  ;  this  last  incision  is  about  six 
inches  high  and  four  wide.  Each  week  the  resin-gatherer  renews  the  surface  by 
paring  off  above  a  thin  slip,  so  small  that  the  excavation  in  the  course  of  a  single 
season  does  not  extend  beyond  eighteen  inches  in  height.  These  cuttings  are 
prolonged  through  a  series  of  years,  till  they  reach  a  height  of  twelve  or  fourteen 
feet,  when  the  workmen  recommence  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  and  cut  others  along- 
side of  and  parallel  to  them.  In  the  landes  of  Bordeaux  the  resin  is  generally 
received  in  little  cups,  which  they  suspend  beneath  the  cuttings,  and  into  which 
little  spouts  conduct  the  sap. 

This  industry  has  had  a  great  development  in  some  of  the  Southern  United 
States,  particularly  in  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  where  the  south- 
ern pine,  a  tree  rich  in  resinous  products,  is  very  abundant. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  417 

burned  in  the  theatres  on  the  torches  of  the  Furies.  This 
can  be  seen  in  the  Fraxinella  cultivated  in  our  gardens. 
Should  the  atmosphere  be  less  tranquil,  the  experiment  is 
easily  made  by  surrounding  the  plant  with  a  glass  case,  as 
in  our  engraving.  So  soon  as  an  ignited  body  is  plunged 
into  it,  a  general  combustion  ensues. 

Other  plants,  during  darkness,  project  inexplicable  gleams 
of  light.  This  extraordinary  phenomenon,  which  is  at- 
tributed to  electricity,  was  first  pointed  out  by  Mademoi- 
selle Linnaeus,  and  afterwards  recognized  by  some  natural- 
ists.1 

When  speaking  of  vegetable  secretions,  we  cannot,  in  the 
present  day,  omit  a  beautiful  tree  of  the  family  of  Sapo- 
tacese,  formerly  considered  useless,  but  which  furnishes  us 
with  one  of  the  most  precious  substances,  —  gutta-percha. 
Spread  over  the  coasts  of  Sumatra  and  Java,  its  produce 
has  only  been  advantageously  worked  during  the  last  twenty 

1  Mademoiselle  Linnaeus  remarked  that  during  twilight,  or  towards  the  begin- 
ning of  dawn,  the  flowers  of  the  monkshood  produced  passing  gleams  from  mo- 
ment to  moment.  She  communicated  these  observations  to  her  father,  and  to 
several  authorities  on  physics.  These  species  of  lightnings  were  generally  at- 
tributed to  a  disengagement  of  electricity,  and  this  was  the  opinion  of  M.  Vilcke 
in  particular. 

M.  Ijjaggren  has  made  similar  observations  on  different  flowers.  In  order  to 
be  certain  that  this  phenomenon  was  not  due  to  any  aberration  of  vision,  he  as- 
sociated to  himself  another  observer,  who  was  to  indicate  by  a  signal  the  moment 
at  which  he  perceived  the  luminous  sparks.  The  learned  Swede  became  con- 
vinced that  there  could  be  no  illusion,  for  his  companion  saw  the  lights  at  pre- 
cisely the  same  instant  that  he  did.  These  passing  gleams  are  sometimes  seen 
in  quick  succession,  but  they  often  only  appear  at  intervals  of  several  minutes. 
They  are  best  seen  on  flowers  of  an  orange-yellow;  the  pale  varieties  of  the  same 
species  do  not  produce  them.  They  may  be  observed  in  the  marigold,  the  monks- 
hood,  the  tagetes  (Tagetes  erecta,  Linn.),  and  the  heliotrope. 


418  THE    UNIVERSE. 

years.  Like  the  gold  of  California,  this  tree  has  caused 
great  social  changes  in  the  countries  where  it  grows. 

In  Caracas,  in  South  America,  grows  the  cow-tree,  which, 
when  its  trunk  is  wounded,  furnishes  an  abundant  supply  of 
milk,  of  which  the  traveller  can  confidently  drink  freely,  for 
it  unites  all  the  qualities  of  the  milk  of  our  domestic  animal, 
which  it  entirely  replaces  in  some  countries  of  America.1 

One  of  the  trees  which  yield  our  internal  economy  ser- 
vices as  important  as  the  preceding  is  the  butter-tree.  It 
furnishes  the  negroes  of  the  Niger  with  a  secretion  which 
they  substitute  for  the  ingredient  used  in  our  kitchens,  and 
with  which  they  prepare  all  their  food.  It  is  sold  abun- 
dantly in  their  markets,  where  it  is  known  as  shea-butter. 

Nature  offers  us  in  profusion  the  greatest  contrasts.  On 
one  side,  with  generous  and  beneficent  hand  she  lavishes 
food  and  salutary  remedies ;  on  the  other,  she  only  distils 
poison,  as  though  in  the  laboratory  of  Medea. 

Here  we  see  opium  perspiring  like  a  milky  dew  from  the 
heads  of  our  poppies,  and  becoming  so  indispensable  to  the 
art  of.  medicine  that  Sydenham,  the  Hippocrates  of  modern 
times,  said  he  would  renounce  his  profession  were  he  de- 
prived of  this  powerful  anodyne.  There  we  behold  the 
poisons  of  belladonna,  datura,  and  henbane  by  turns  useful 
and  deadly. 

But  no  tree  prepares  in  its  invisible  laboratories  such 
precious  crystals  as  the  cinchona ;  nature  offers  us  no  other 

1  As  respects  the  milk  or  cow-tree,  paolo  de  vac.a,  as  it  is  called  in  the  country, 
M.  Boussingault,  who  at  Humboldt's  request  analyzed  its  products,  states  that  its 
physical  properties  are  exactly  similar  to  those  of  cow's  milk,  except  that  it  is  a 
little  more  viscous.  It  is  remarkable  for  containing  an  enormous  quantity  of  wax. 
This  substance  constitutes  the  half  of  its  weight. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


419 


medicine  which  is  so  potent.     The  cinchona  alone  arrests 
the  ravages  of  deadly  fevers  in  their  fatal  progress ;  with- 


193.  Thyrsus  of  Flowers  of  the  Yellow  Cinchona:    Cinchona  cordifolla  (Mutis). 

out  it  many  countries  would  be  uninhabitable,  many  jour- 
neys impossible.  Hence,  in  their  enthusiasm  about  its 
marvellous  power,  many  physicians,  in  imitation  of  Torti, 
have  given  it  the  name  of  "  herculean  remedy."  l 

1  The  following  passages  will  show  how  M.  Georges  Pouchet,  following  the 
account  of  La  Condamine,  inserted  in  the  Memoires  de  P  Academic  des  Sciences, 


420  THE    UNIVERSE. 

In  many  trees,  instead  of  the  bark  being  saturated  with 
medicinal  juices,  it  secretes  aromatics  which  are  highly 
prized.  This  is  the  case  with  the  cinnamon-trees,  which 
are  an  element  of  prosperity  for  places  where,  like  Ceylon, 
they  are  cultivated  to  a  certain  extent. 

Along  with  these  we  must  not  omit  to  name  a  tree  which 
selects  the  fruit  instead  of  the  bark  as  a  store-house  for  its 
aroma  ;  it  is  the  nutmeg-tree.  It  grows  beneath  the  sun  of 
India,  and  its  nuts,  an  important  article  of  commerce,  are 
frequently  used  in  the  preparation  of  our  food. 

Pepper,  made  known  to  us  by  a  daring  innovator  of  the 
name  of  Le  Poivre,  governor  of  the  Isle  of  France,  pre- 

has  traced  the  history  of  the  discovery  of  the  most  powerful  medicine  we  pos- 
sess :  — 

44  In  1638,  Count  Chinchon  being  vice-regent  of  Peru  for  the  crown  of  Spain, 
his  august  spouse  was  attacked  with  a  severe  fever.  The  corregidor  of  Loxa, 
filled  with  gallantry  for  the  wife  of  his  immediate  superior,  sent  him  word  that 
the  Indians  of  the  neighborhood  knew  of  a  bark  which  cured  their  fevers,  and 
might  possibly  have  the  same  effect  upon  a  person  of  so  exalted  a  condition,  and 
begged  of  him,  should  his  resources  fail,  at  all  events  to  try  this  medicine  of  the 
savages.  The  vice-queen  getting  worse  and  worse,  the  corregidor  was  called  to 
Lima  in  order  himself  to  regulate  the  dose  and  mode  of  preparation  of  his  med- 
icine. But  it  may  be  easily  imagined  that  no  one  was  imprudent  enough  to  ad- 
minister so  extraordinary  a  powder  to  the  noble  patient  without  some  precau- 
tions; they  therefore  decided  to  try  it  on  some  of  the  common  people  in  anima 
vilij  and  it  was  only  after  they  had  cured  with  the  corregidor's  bark  some  poor 
Spanish  beggars,  shattered  with  fever,  that  the  vice-queen  took  it  and  was  cured. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Lima,  being  astonished  at  this,  sent  a  deputa- 
tion to  the  convalescent,  beggihg  her  to  send  to  Loxa  for  a  stock  of  the  bark,  a 
request  which  was  compiled  with.  The  countess  herself  distributed  the  remedy  to 
all  who  required  it,  and  from  this  time  it  began  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  the 
countess's  powder.  Some  months  afterwards  she  gave  up  the  task,  handing  over 
what  remained  to  the  Jesuit  fathers,  who,  to  their  praise  be  it  said,  continued  to 
give  it  gratuitously,  and  hence  it  acquired  the  name  of  Jesuits'  powder,  which  it 
long  bore  both  in  America  and  Europe." 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  421 

viously   spoken   of,    also   has   its   arorna   contained   in   its 
fruit. 

Whilst  the  cinchonas  and  the  cinnamon  conceal  their  ac- 
tive juices  in  the  thickness  of  the  bark,  other  trees,  such  as 
the  camphor  laurel,  spread  them  through  all  their  organs, — 


194.  Nutmeg-Tree:  Myristica  moschata  (Lamarck) 

stems,  roots,  and  leaves.  These  trees,  covered  with  brilliant 
glazed  leaves  of  bright  green,  ornament  the  regions  of  India 
and  Java.  The  camphor  which  they  furnish  is  extracted  in 
the  easiest  manner ;  all  the  natives  have  to  do  is  to  break 
up  the  tree  into  small  pieces,  and  heat  these  in  water,  when 
the  precious  essence  condenses  under  the  lid  of  the  retort. 


422  THE   UNIVERSE. 

In  other  parts  we  find,  instead  of  these  stimulating  aro- 
matics,  beautiful  mimosas,  from  the  fissures  in  whose  bark 
flow  emollient  gums,  and  mallows  swollen  with  demulcent 
juices  which  medicine  calls  to  its  aid.1 

Beneath  the  burning  sun  of  India,  where  the  naja  distils 
its  dreadful  venom,  the  nettles  secrete  a  mortal  poison. 
This  analogy  to  the  reptile  is  doubly  exact,  so  that  we  are 
not  at  all  astonished  to  see  a  German  botanist  call  the  Ur- 
ticae  "the  serpents  of  the  vegetable  kingdom."  It  is,  in 
fact,  by  the  same  kind  of  organ  that  the  plants  introduce 
the  venom  into  a  wound  ;  and  if  we  look  at  the  minute 
quantity  with  which  one  of  their  hairs  inoculates  us,  —  not, 
perhaps,  the  hundred  and  fifty  thousandth  part  of  a  grain  ! 
—  at  the  rapidity  and  intensity  of  the  symptoms,  it  is 
clear  that  the  poison  of  the  nettle  is  the  deadliest  known. 

Our  indigenous  species  only  produce  a  burning  sensation, 
which  is  soon  dissipated,  but  those  of  tropical  countries  give 
rise  to  very  serious  results.  Leschenault  says  that  he  has 
seen  the  sting  of  the  indented  nettle  ( Urtica  crenulata, 
Linn.)  bring  on  the  most  horrible  suffering  for  a  whole 
week.  Another  species,  which  grows  at  Timor,  and  which 
the  natives  call  the  Devil's  Leaf  ( Urtica  urentissima\  pro- 
duces such  serious  wounds  that,  according  to  Schleiden, 
amputation  is  the  sole  means  of  saving  life. 

1  The  seeds  of  some  leguminous  plants  are  used  by  the  Chinese  as  soap.  Sow- 
erby  has  suggested  that  the  leaves  of  the  soapwort  (Saponaria  officinalis}  might 
be  used  for  the  purpose,  as  they  undoubtedly  were  in  by-gone  times,  especially,  it 
is  said,  by  the  mendicant  friars.  The  lather  formed  by  boiling  or  bruising  the 
seeds  in  water  has  all  the  effect  of  soap,  and  readily  removes  grease;  so  that  we 
here  find  nature  spontaneously  developing  a  great  manufacturing  product,  which 
under  man's  hands  has  taken  two  thousand  years  to  bring  to  its  present  perfec- 
tion. —  TR. 


195.  The  Camphor-Tree,  or  Camphor-Laurel:  Lauras  Camphora  (Linnaeus). 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  425 

In  the  midst  of  this  fearful  cohort  of  deadly  plants,  the 
upas-tree  of  Java  stands  prominently  out  as  one  of  those 
which  distil  the  most  terrible  juices.  Its  action  is  such  that 
a  weapon  dipped  in  it  at  once  kills  any  animal  it  strikes. 
Travellers  relate  having  seen  several  women  guilty  of  adul- 
tery die  in  six  minutes  after  being  pricked  below  the  bosom 
with  a  lancet  dipped  in  the  juice  of  this  tree. 

No  tree  has  been  the  subject  of  so  many  ridiculous  fables 
as  the  upas,  and  till  quite  lately  they  were  popularly  be- 
lieved. On  the  faith  of  a  Dutch  surgeon  named  Foersche, 
it  was  related  that  the  upas  flowed  from  a  unique  and  sin- 
gular tree,  which  vegetated  in  the  midst  of  a  frightful  sol- 
itude in  Java,  "  the  valley  of  death."  According  to  this 
traveller,  no  living  creature  could  resist  the  poisonous  va- 
pors which  it  exhaled,  and  for  three  or  four  leagues  around 
only  dead  bodies  and  skeletons  of  men  and  animals  were  to 
be  met  with.  The  birds  themselves  which  ventured  into 
the  surrounding  air  fell  to  the  ground  as  if  struck  by  light- 
ning. Criminals  condemned  to  capital  punishment  alone 
essayed  the  task  of  wresting  its  infernal  produce  from  the 
tree.  Many  tried  the  perilous  journey,  but  very  few  re- 
turned from  it. 

It  is  disgraceful  to  be  obliged  to  admit  that  we  owe  the 
refutation  of  this  fabulous  narrative  to  so  recent  a  writer  as 
Leschenault.  This  traveller  noticed  that  the  famous  poison 
is  furnished  by  two  species  of  trees  which  grow  amid  the 
forests  of  Java.  So  far  from  exercising  a  deleterious  influ- 
ence upon  all  that  surrounds  them,  they  are  encompassed 
by  a  luxurious  vegetation,  while  birds,  lizards,  and  insects 
lend  animation  to  their  boughs  and  foliage.  The  learned 


426  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Frenchman,  while  examining  one  of  these  trees  which  he 
had  had  cut  down,  had  his  face  and  hands  covered  with 
exudation  flowing  from  the  broken  branches,  yet  he  experi- 
enced no  bad  effects  from  this  circumstance. 

But  it  is  very  different  when  the  juice  of  the  upas  is  in- 
troduced into  the  organism  by  means  of  the  smallest  punc- 
ture. A  wound  of  this  kind  destroys  a  dog  in  five  or  six 
minutes,  as  Magendie  noticed  in  his  experiments.  Eight 
drops  of  the  juice  injected  into  the  veins  of  a  horse  kill  it 
directly. 

Other  plants,  more  happily  gifted,  instead  of  these  deadly 
poisons,  elaborate  at  the  same  time  medicinal  agents  and 
nutritive  matters.  One  of  these  products  furnishes  a 
remedy  in  sickness  ;  another  increases  the  luxury  of  our 
tables.  This  is  the  case  with  the  rhubarbs.  Their  large 
roots  are  quite  full  of  purgative  and  strengthening  prin- 
ciples, whilst  their  leaves,  saturated  with  acidulous  juice, 
display  strong  stocks  which  serve  for  food.  In  England  and 
in  the  United  States  an  enormous  quantity  is  consumed  in 
the  spring  for  pastry  and  side-dishes,  and  at  this  time  of 
the  year  trains  of  vehicles,  heavily  laden  with  rhubarb 
stalks,  are  seen  arriving  at  the  markets. 

For  long,  a  kind  of  sympathy  between  certain  plants  has 
been  observed  to  exist,  as  if  one  loved  to  be  under  the 
shade  of  the  other.  Thus  on  the  banks  of  rivulets  the  ama- 
ranth-colored1 flowers  of  the  purple  loosestrife  (Lythrum 
salicaria,  Linn.)  constantly  adorn  the  vicinity  of  the  wil- 
low. Other  plants,  on  the  contrary,  seem  to  experience 
an  aversion  one  for  the  other,  and  if  man  inconsiderately 

1  A  color  inclining  to  purple. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  427 

compels  them  to  approach  each  other  they  languish  or  die. 
The  flax-plant,  for  instance,  seems  to  have  a  manifest  an- 
tipathy for  the  scabious  (Scabiosa  arvensis,  Linn.). 

At  the  present  time  these  peculiarities  are  explained  by 
assuming  that  the  roots  emit  products  favorable  to  certain 
species  and  hurtful  to  others,  —  products  which  Plenck, 
with  all  the  coarseness  of  one  of  Moliere's  doctors,  called 
the  "  excrement  of  plants." 

Duhamel,  when  having  some  elms  cut  down,  had  already 
noticed  that  the  soil  in  which  they  had  stood  had  under- 
gone a  certain  alteration,  having  become  unctuous. 

A  Genevese  observer,  M.  Macaire,  went  even  further.  He 
observed  that  when  roots  of  chicory  or  Euphorbia  were 
placed  in  water  they  exuded  into  it  a  colored  extractive 
matter,  which  could  only  be  an  excretion. 

Lastly,  Brugrnans,  professor  at  the  University  of  Leyden, 
pushed  the  matter  still  further.  Having  collected  this  sub- 
stance from  the  roots  of  violets  which  he  had  placed  in 
pure  fine  sand,  he  found  that  it  acted  like  poison  upon  other 
plants. 

Thus  the  cause  of  those  curious  instinctive  mutual  ad- 
vances, already  perceived  by  Mathiolus,  who  called  them 
the  friendships  of  plants,  is  demonstrated.  Indeed,  the  old 
botanist,  in  his  work,  says  that  there  is  so  much  affection 
between  the  reed  and  the  asparagus  that  if  we  plant  them 
together  both  will  prosper  marvellously. 

In  Germany,  agriculture,  guided  by  science,  has  learned 
to  profit  from  these  mutual  affections,  and  Schwerz,  in  his 
learned  works,  points  out  how  cereals  should  be  allied  in 
order  to  augment  the  produce  of  our  fields. 


428  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    SLEEP   OF    PLANTS. 

THE  deeper  we  search  into  the  mysteries  of  vegetable 
life  the  closer  relation  do  we  find  with  animal  existence. 
Exhausted  by  the  functional  labor  of  the  day,  many  plants, 
when  the  evening  arrives,  assume  a  particular  attitude, 
which  they  preserve  through  the  night ;  this  is  their  sleep. 

This  curious  phenomenon,  which  a  fortunate  accident  re- 
vealed to  Linnaeus,  was  carried  by  him  to  demonstration. 
He  first  observed  it  in  a  Bird's-Foot  Lotus  growing  in  one 
of  the  greenhouses  of  the  garden  at  Upsala.  Having  no- 
ticed it  flowering  in  the  morning,  what  was  his  astonish- 
ment, as  he  passed  by  the  plant  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
to  find  that  he  could  not  see  its  flowers !  At  first  the  bot- 
anist thought  that  some  unprincipled  amateur  had  robbed 
him  of  them ;  but  on  looking  more  attentively  at  the  plant, 
he  found  that  it  was  against  itself  the  charge  of  larceny 
would  have  to  be  preferred.  In  fact,  the  naturalist  ob- 
served that  each  evening  the  leaves  of  this  Lotus  assumed 
a  particular  position,  which  hid  the  corollas  : l  it  was  their 
way  of  sleeping. 

Thinking  that  such  a  phenomenon  would  not  be  an  iso- 
lated one,  Linnaeus  after  this  passed  the  nights  in  wander- 
ing about  in  his  garden,  with  a  torch  in  his  hand,  to  verify 

1  The  sleep  of  plants  was  first  observed  in  India,  on  the  tamarind-tree,  by 
Garcias  de  Horto  in  1567;  after  this,  in  1581,  by  Val  Cordus  on  the  licorice;  but 
it  was  Linnaeus  who  first  really  demonstrated  the  nature  of  it. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  429 

the  results.  In  this  way  he  noticed  that  a  great  number  of 
plants  assume  a  particular  attitude  when  they  give  them- 
selves up  to  sleep  :  this  is  due  to  their  need  of  repose,  which, 
as  in  most  animals,  coincides  with  the  want  of  light. 

In  certain  families  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  the  plants 
are  even  so  transformed  during  their  sleep  that  they  are 
not  recognizable.  The  aspect  of  a  forest  or  a  savanna  is 
sometimes  absolutely  changed  by  it.  Many  bring  their 
boughs  nearer  to  the  stem,  and  apply  their  leaves  one  to 
the  other,  so  as  to  be  a  mutual  protection  against  the  cold. 
Whoever  has  seen  a  sensitive  plant  during  the  night,  with 
its  boughs  drooping,  and,  as  it  were,  overpowered  by  fatigue, 
with  its  leaflets  folded  together  like  eyelids  which  close, 
will  admit  that  at  such  times  it  rests  and  sleeps. 

The  phenomenon  we  are  speaking  of  is  seen  in  a  much 
more  striking  form  in  hotter  countries.  Humboldt,  while 
traversing  the  banks  of  the  Magdalena,  observed  that 
there  plants  awake  much  later  than  in  less  torrid  countries, 
as  if  vegetation  in  these  climates  shared  in  the  indolence 
which  is  observable  in  all  the  peoples  scattered  beneath  the 
equator. 

Many  flowers  close  every  evening  in  order  to  give  them- 
selves up  peacefully  to  repose.  There  are  some,  such  as 
certain  bind -weeds,  which  are  very  lazy,  falling  asleep  long 
before  sunset,  and  only  rousing  up  very  late  each  morning, 
when  the  sun  darts  his  rays  upon  them. 

In  the  evening,  if  we  view  a  meadow  in  which  these  im- 
pressible flowers  abound,  its  mournful  aspect  renders  it  un- 
recognizable. In  full  midday,  when  it  is  enamelled  with 
all  these  open  corollas,  it  seems  a  mass  of  verdure  filled 


430 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


with  great  yellow  and  blue  eyes  which  gaze  at  us.  But 
when  twilight  arrives  all  these  seem  to  have  closed  their 
eyelids  in  order  to  slumber :  the  living  aspect  of  the 


196.  Sensitive  Plant  Asleep  and  Awake:  Mimosa pudica  (Linnaeus). 

meadow  has  vanished  ;  all  appears  inanimate  ;    its  flowers 
are  sleeping. 

Men  have  sought  to  attribute  the  phenomenon  we  are 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  431 

speaking  of  to  the  difference  between  the  temperature  of 
the  day  and  the  temperature  of  the  night ;  but  when  it  was 
seen  to  take  place  in  greenhouses,  where  the  heat  was  equal 
night  and  day,  they  were  obliged  to  seek  for  some  other 
cause. 

De  Candolle  showed  by  some  interesting  experiments 
that  within  the  empire  of  Flora  sleep  is  to  be  attributed 
to  the  absence  of  light.  By  throwing  a  very  bright  light 
upon  sensitive  plants  during  the  night,  and,  conversely,  by 
placing  them  in  profound  darkness  during  the  day,  the 
learned  botanist  succeeded  in  completely  changing  their 
habits.  These  plants  closed  up  their  leaflets  and  slept  the 
whole  day,  deceived  by  the  artificial  gloom ;  and  they  re- 
mained awake  the  whole  night,  when  six  lamps  projected 
upon  them  a  brilliance  equal  to  five  sixths  of  that  of  day- 
light. 

It  is  principally  among  plants  which  inhabit  intertropical 
countries  that  the  phenomenon  in  question  is  seen.  It  is 
particularly  noticeable  in  the  family  of  the  Leguminosae, 
and  most  of  all  in  the  sensitive  plants.  Many  of  those  in 
our  fields  show  it  plainly. 

If  at  the  close  of  summer  we  examine  a  clover-field 
about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  we  are  struck  with  the 
aspect  which  all  the  plants  present  at  this  moment,  the  first 
of  their  sleep.  The  two  side  leaflets  of  each  leaf  are  laid 
close  against  one  another,  and  the  middle  one  covers  them 
like  a  protecting  roof;  the  whole  aspect  of  the  crop  has 
changed. 


432  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

VEGETABLE    SENSIBILITY. 

WHAT  mysterious  forces  preside  over  the  life  of  plants  ? 
These  forms  so  graceful  and  imposing,  adorned  with  daz- 
zling colors,  perfuming  the  air  with  the  sweetest  odors,  have 
they  been  deprived  of  all  the  faculties  accorded  to  the  most 
ignoble  animals  ? 

There  are  two  schools  which  have,  on  this  subject,  put 
forward  equally  exaggerated  statements :  the  one  has  found 
pleasure  in  over-estimating  the  vital  essence  of  plants,  the 
other  in  degrading  it. 

The  ancients  clearly  erred  on  the  side  of  the  first  of  these 
two  excesses.  Empedocles  did  not  hesitate  to  accord  high 
endowments  to  plants,  and  some  of  the  followers  of  the 
philosopher  of  Agrigentum  have  surpassed  him  in  this  re- 
spect. 

The  marvellous  mandrake  was  considered  by  them  to  be 
endowed  with  the  most  exquisite  sensibility.  The  ancients 
related  that  at  the  slightest  wound  this  plant,  with  human 
form,  gave  vent  to  mournful  groans ;  and  those  who  were 
daring  enough  to  gather  it  were  obliged  to  employ  certain 
precautions  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  alarmed  at 
these  sounds,  and  might  defy  its  evil  influence. 

The  most  illustrious  botanist  of  ancient  Greece,  Theo- 
phrastus,  goes  so  far  as  to  describe  the  ceremonies  which 
were  imperiously  demanded  for  the  conquest  of  this  fune- 
real plant.  He  says  that  in  order  to  tear  it  out  it  was  nee- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  433 

essary  to  trace  three  magic  circles  round  it  with  the  point  of 
a  sword,  looking  all  the  time  towards  the  east,  whilst  one  of 
the  assistants  danced  round  about,  uttering  obscene  words.1 

The  theories  of  credulous  antiquity  have  been  repro- 
duced, and  even  exceeded,  in  our  own  day.  Adanson,  a 
daring  spirit,  if  ever  there  was  one,  was  not  satisfied,  like 
the  Sicilian  sophist,  with  endowing  plants  with  a  mere  sen- 
sitive soul ;  he  contended  that  each  one  must  have  several.2 

Hedwig,  a  profound  botanist;  Bonnet,  more  an  orator 
than  a  really  learned  man ;  and,  most  of  all,  Edward  Smith, 
allotted  to  plants  exquisite  sensibility,  and  even  sensations 
of  pretty  high  character. 

1  The  Mandragora,  which  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  plants  of  antiquity 
and  the  Middle  Ages,  was  supposed  to  grow  under  gibbets,  where  it  was  manured 
with  the  remains  of  those  put  to  death.     It  was  said  that  it  could  not  be  torn  out 
without  danger.     The  credulous  supporters  of  the  cabala,  in  order  to  avoid  all 
accidents,  taught  their  adepts  to  extract  it  from  the  ground  by  means  of  a  dog 
tied  to  the  plant,  and  which,  as  the  plant  exerted  all  its  malevolence  over  it,  was 
thus  devoted  to  a  certain  death 

The  charlatans  of  our  superstitious  ages  gave  the  Mandragora  a  human  form 
before  employing  it  in  their  sorceries.  The  idea  that  this  plant  naturally  appears 
under  this  form  had  procured  for  it  the  name  of  anthropomorphos  among  the  an- 
cients ;  and  it  was  so  entirely  considered  as  such  by  our  superstitious  ancestors 
that  in  certain  botanical  works  of  the  period  of  the  Renaissance,  and  particularly 
in  the  Grand  Herbier  en  Franfais,  we  find  sketches  of  the  Mandragora  plants, 
faithful  enough  as  regards  the  foliage  and  aspect,  while  their  embellished  roots 
present  a  human  figure,  some  representing  a  man,  and  others  a  woman. 

2  The  following  curious  passage  on  this  subject  is  found  in  Adanson's  work:  — 
"  Every  plant,  although  without  sensation,  being  animated,  possesses  a  soul, 

which  is  not  sole  nor  fixed  in  any  part,  but  equally  spread  through  all,  and  divis- 
ible, since  every  one  of  its  integrant  parts  which  participate  in  a  common  life 
possesses  in  itself  an  isolated  vitality,  and  because,  when  separated  and  detached 
from  them,  it  grows  and  fructifies,  finally  enjoying  all  the  properties  and  faculties 
which  it  possessed  before  its  separation." 


434 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


These  views  have  in  our  day  been  ardently  upheld  by 
two  of  the  most  celebrated  savants  of  studious  Germany,  — 
Von  Martius  and  Theodore  Fechner, —  who  consider  a  plant 
a  sentient  being  endowed  with  an  individual  soul ;  the  latter 
having  carried  his  temerity  so  far  as  to  found  a  sort  of  veg- 
etable psychology. 


197.  The  Mandrake:  Atropa  Mandrayora  (Linnaeus). 

Camille  Debans,  in  his  charming  little  work,  makes  an 
allusion  to  the  system  of  these  two  botanists,  which  is  full 
of  poetry  and  freshness.  He  draws  the  picture  of  a  rose 
so  weakened  and  languishing  that  the  least  breath  of  air, 
as  light  as  the  sigh  of  a  virgin,  tears  away  the  suffering 
and  faded  petals.  And  when  the  murderous  breath  has  at 
last  slain  the  flower  formerly  so  sweet  and  perfumed,  the 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  435 

gnomes,  with  tears,  bear  away  its  soul  to  paradise  on  their 
diaphanous  wings. 

Struck  with  the  imposing  aspect  of  the  aged  denizens 
of  the  forests,  the  ancients  revered  them,  thinking  that 
under  their  trunks  tranquil  divinities  kept  themselves  hid- 
den from  mortal  eyes.  Their  sombre  recesses  sent  a  thrill 
of  religious  terror  through  the  breasts  of  all.  The  lapse  of 
ages  has  not  yet  everywhere  rooted  out  such  ideas.  In  the 
legends  of  Japan  it  is  said  that  cedars  which  have  stood  for 
centuries  enjoy  such  an  exuberance  of  life  that  drops  of 
blood  may  sometimes  be  seen  oozing  from  them  as  they 
are  cut  by  the  axe  ;  and  ancient  traditions  even  add  that 
they  have  souls  exactly  like  those  of  men  and  of  the  gods. 
Hence  the  unspeakable  dread  of  the  belated  Japanese 
woodcutter  when  he  passes  through  these  dark  forests,  in 
which  every  gnarled  trunk  appears  like  a  menacing  and 
terrible  shade  ! 

On  the  other  hand,  as  the  genius  of  Descartes  was  pow- 
erful enough  to  make  the  bulk  of  men  believe  that  animals 
were  only  simple  automatons,  set  going  in  order  to  accom- 
plish a  certain  number  of  acts,  so  many  naturalists,  on  still 
more  plausible  grounds,  and  in  particular  Hales,  whose 
beautiful  experiments  laid  the  foundation  of  vegetable  phys- 
iology, leaned  strongly  to  the  view  of  considering  plants  as 
so  many  structures  entirely  under  the  empire  of  material 
forces. 

But  neither  of  the  two  views  above  described  finds  an 
asylum  at  the  present  day  in  the  severe  domain  of  science. 
We  cannot  liken  the  phenomena  of  vegetable  life  either  to 
simple  physico-chemical  action,  or  to  a  supreme  intellectual 


436  THE    UNIVERSE. 

directing  power.  It  is  evident  that  they  are  governed  by  a 
vital  force  which  binds  all  the  springs  of  existence ;  when 
that  disappears,  nothing  preserves  the  plant  from  destruc- 
tion. -.  «, 

All  naturalists  who  have  treated  the  question  seriously  as 
physiologists  maintain  that  plants  enjoy  quite  as  active  a 
life  as  many  animals,  and  that  they  possess  traces  of  sensi- 
bility and  contractility.  Bichat,  the  most  illustrious  of 
modern  anatomists,  in  his  admirable  "  Recherches  sur  la 
Vie  et  la  Mort,"  admits  this  without  hesitation. 

Numerous  experiments  prove  clearly  that  there  are  in 
plants  traces  of  sensibility  analogous  to  animal  sensibility. 
Electricity  will  kill  them;  narcotics  paralyze  or  destroy 
them.  By  sprinkling  opium  over  certain  species  they  have 
been  thrown  into  a  profound  sleep.  Messrs.  Goeppert  and 
Macaire,  in  their  interesting  investigations,  have  observed 
that  prussic  acid  poisons  plants  with  as  much  rapidity  as  it 
does  animals. 

Does  not  the  sensitive  plant  contract  visibly  when  we 
irritate  it  ?  Do  we  not  know  that  vegetable  tissues  shrivel 
of  their  own  accord  so  soon  as  we  bring  them  in  contact 
with  any  stimulant?  Carradori  noticed  that  exciting  the 
tips  of  the  leaves  of  a  lettuce  was  sufficient  to  make  it 
eject  little  drops  of  its  own  juice. 

If  we  divorce  ourselves  from  all  our  old  ideas  of  vegeta- 
ble life,  and  simply  observe  its  phenomena,  we  shall  arrive 
at  conclusions  which  will  astonish  us.  We  shall  be  sur- 
prised to  find  that  the  energy  displayed  in  the  biological 
actions  of  plants  often  surpasses  everything  seen  in  the 
animal  kingdom,  —  a  fact  which  has  only  remained  unno- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  437 

ticed  because  we  have  wrongly  looked  upon  the  turbulent 
manifestations  of  animal  life  as  the  highest  expression  of 
this  power. 

If  towards  thq  close  of  a  burning  summer  day  we  enter  a 
greenhouse  where  the  long  fluted  stems  of  the  Cactus  gran- 
diflorus  twine  in  a  spiny  and  tangled  net-work,  we  perceive 
here  and  there  on  them  lanceolated  pointed  knobs  of  mod- 
erate size.  There  is  nothing  which  would  lead  us  to  think 
what  a  spectacle  is  about  to  open  to  our  sight. 

But  towards  half  past  eight  o'clock,  the  time  when  ob- 
scurity overspreads  the  earth,  all  at  once  every  flower  of 
the  Cactus  displays  its  innumerable  long  yellow  and  white 
petals,  and  its  corona  of  five  hundred  stamens  waves  and 
trembles  round  the  pistil ;  then  its  vast  calyx  exhales  an 
odor  of  vanilla,  which  perfumes  the  whole  greenhouse.  But 
such  an  exuberance  of  life  is  only  very  ephemeral.  A  but- 
ton two  inches  round  is  transformed  into  a  flower  a  foot  in 
circumference.  A  few  minutes  have  sufficed  to  unfold  one  of 
the  marvels  of  Flora's  empire  ;  a  few  minutes  will  equally 
suffice  to  destroy  it.  Towards  midnight  every  part  of  this 
nuptial  couch,  so  brilliant  and  perfumed,  fades  and  totally 
decays. 

What  animal  displays  an  organic  force  at  the  same  time 
so  active  and  so  fleeting  ?  Not  one,  and  yet  we  have  never 
bestowed  a  thought  on  it.  This  splendid  flower  lives  more 
in  a  few  hours  than  does  a  mollusc  in  a  whole  year. 

Among  divers  plants  endowed  with  sensibility,  there  is 
not  one  which  vibrates  and  moves  with  such  animation 
as  the  queen  of  the  mimosas,  the  Mimosa  pudica.  Should 
the  slightest  touch  stir  only  one  of  its  leaflets,  the  whole  of 


438  THE   UNIVERSE. 

them  shut  up  ;  then  in  a  few  seconds  the  branches  droop 
successively  towards  the  earth,  and  the  plant  displays  signs 
of  the  most  profound  disturbance,  appearing  as  if  struck  by 
lightning. 

In  vain  have  certain  botanists  tried  to  explain  this  ex- 
traordinary phenomenon  through  the  intervention  of  chem- 
ico-physical  forces  ;  it  is  evident  that  we  have  only  to  deal 
here  with  a  vital  manifestation. 

If  we  preserve  a  sensitive  plant  from  being  shaken,  and 
place  upon  one  of  its  leaves  a  drop  of  acid,  the  contact  of 
the  irritant  suffices  to  make  the  whole  plant  shrink  up;  and 
if  we  merely  heat  one  of  its  little  leaflets  by  placing  it  in 
the  focus  of  a  burning-glass,  the  injury  seems  to  be  felt 
through  every  part  of  the  fragile  Mimosa ;  its  boughs  and 
leafage  sink  down  as  though  it  were  struck  by  stupor. 

This  charming  leguminous  plant,  the  subject  of  so  many 
ingenious  comparisons,  possesses  a  delicacy  of  sensation 
which  we  should  never  think  of  meeting  with  in  the  veg- 
etable kingdom.  When  Von  Martius  was  traversing  the 
savannas  of  tropical  America,  where  it  abounds,  he  ob- 
served that  the  sound  of  his  horse's  hoofs  at  a  distance 
made  all  the  sensitive  plants  contract,  as  if  they  had  been 
frightened.  A  ray  of  sunlight,  or  the  shadow  of  a  cloud 
even,  is  enough  to  produce  a  manifest  change  in  the  midst 
of  them. 

Such  very  singular  phenomena  ought  to  suffice  to  make 
us  suppose  that  the  vegetable  fibre  conceals  in  its  hidden 
folds  some  traces  of  the  structure  which  everywhere  presides 
over  animal  life.  Dutrochet  even  thought  he  had  found  in 
it  the  regulator  of  so  many  mysterious  actions,  —  a  nervous 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  439 

system.  According  to  him,  this  structure  is  represented  by 
the  granulations  interposed  between  the  cells.  But  with 
the  most  powerful  microscope  the  eye  cannot  perceive  any- 
thing that  can  be  identified  with  the  nerves  of  animals. 

Although  the  existence  of  nerves  in  plants  may  still  be 
matter  of  doubt,  it  is  none  the  less  certain  that  the  irrita- 
bility shown  by  the  sensitive  plant  seems  to  be  under  the 
empire  of  organs  analogous  to  nerves,  as  it  is  influenced  by 
the  same  agents  and  in  the  same  manner  as  animals.  Nar- 
cotics weaken  its  sensibility  as  they  weaken  ours.  If  opium 
be  sprinkled  upon  the  plant  it  ceases  to  feel  irritants,  and 
no  longer  contracts ;  it  is  paralyzed.  And,  as  we  have  said, 
an  electric  shock  kills  it. 

But  a  still  more  extraordinary  phenomenon  is  that  this 
plant  knows,  like  ourselves,  how  to  accommodate  itself  to 
circumstances.  Desfontaines,  having  placed  one  in  his  car- 
riage on  a  journey,  saw  it  contract  all  its  leaves  so  soon  as 
it  felt  the  shaking  of  the  wheels.  Then,  strange  to  say, 
while  the  journey  was  still  continued,  the  Mimosa,  having 
recovered  from  its  fright,  opened  all  its  leaves  little  by  little, 
and  kept  them  expanded  so  long  as  the  movement  lasted. 
It  had  accustomed  itself  to  the  motion.  But  as  soon  as  the 
vehicle  stopped  the  same  peculiarity  was  repeated,  and  on 
starting  the  plant  contracted  afresh,  only  to  open  again 
when  farther  off.1 

1  In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Botanical  Congress  at  London,  in  1866,  there  is 
an  exhaustive  paper  by  Professor  Caspary,  on  movements  induced  in  different 
trees  by  cold.  It  seems  to  be  made  out  that  the  seat  of  such  movements  is  the 
protoplasm,  -not  the  outer  cell-wall.  The  contractile  power  of  the  protoplasm  is 
strongly  marked  in  the  Selaginella  mutab'dis,  which,  when  exposed  to  a  bright 
light,  becomes  of  a  pale  whitish  milky  color,  but  resumes  its  green  tint  when  the 


440  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Many  plants  perform  instinctively  almost  incredible  ac- 
tions in  seeking  for  the  necessaries  of  their  existence.  M. 
Grimard,  in  his  charming  work  on  botany,  written  with  re- 
markable independence  of  thought,  quotes  the  history  of  a 
Scaly  LathraBa  (Lathrcea  squamaria,  Linn.),  which,  having 
germinated  at  the  bottom  of  a  mine,  raised  itself  to  the 
prodigious  height  of  120  feet,  in  order  to  reach  the  light, 
although  it  ordinarily  attains  a  length  of  only  five  or  six 
inches. 

intensity  of  the  light  is  diminished.  The  rhythmical  tremors  observed  by  M. 
Lecoq  in  the  leaves  of  Colocasia  esculenta  are  so  violent  that  on  one  occasion  the 
pot  in  which  the  plant  was  growing  was  so  shaken  that  it  could  with  difficulty 
be  steadied.  The  Oxalis  sensitiva,  probably  in  its  own  country  the  most  sensitive 
of  plants,  is  in  this  country  (England)  nearly  or  quite  destitute  of  such  a  power. 
One  of  the  most  extraordinary  of  these  plants  is  the  Desmodiitm  gyrans,  or  tele- 
graph plant,  possibly  the  same  plant  described  by  M.  Pouchet  as  D.  oscillans^  a 
native  of  India.  The  leaves  consist  of  two  small  lateral  leaflets  and  a  terminal 
one.  The  latter  works  up  and  down  according  to  the  intensity  of  the  light,  while 
the  side  leaflets  work  day  and  night,  like  the  old  semaphore  signals.  Dr.  Masters 
confirms  the  statement  of  Desfontaines  as  to  the  effect  of  travelling  on  the  Mi- 
mosa, having  noticed  it  while  conveying  a  specimen  by  railway.  When  the  ether 
spray  is  directed  with  some  force  upon  the  leaves  of  the  Mimosa  pudica  they  close 
up,  but  if  the  spray  be  so  directed  that  it  only  touches  the  leaves  very  gently  they 
seem  paralyzed.  Analogous  facts  are  constantly  seen  in  disease.  M.  Blondeau 
says  that  when  a  direct  current  from  a  galvanic  battery  is  passed  through  the 
plant  it  is  not  affected,  but  if  an  indirect  current  from  a  small  Ruhmkorff  coil  be 
substituted  the  leaflets  roll  up  immediately.  —  Popular  Science  Review,  vol.  vii., 
p.  22.  —  TR. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  441 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   MOVEMENTS    OF   PLANTS. 

LIKE  animals,  plants  are  endowed  with  the  power  of 
movement.  The  slightest  observation  shows  this,  as  it  does 
their  sensibility ;  but  some  of  our  savants  refuse  to  believe 
it  as  obstinately  as  men  opposed  the  first  demonstrations  of 
the  rotation  of  the  earth.  In  vain  is  it  shown  that  plants 
move  just  like  the  seconds-hand  of  a  watch ;  that  they  con- 
stantly change  their  position  in  order  to  sleep  or  protect 
themselves  from  injury.  Forasmuch  as  the  old  doctrine 
taught  that  they  are  insensible  and  deprived  of  movement, 
some  timid  minds  do  not  wish  to  emancipate  themselves 
from  it. 

Yet  the  movements  of  plants  are  susceptible  of  positive 
proof,  only  we  cannot  discover  the  acting  forces.  But  do 
we  know  more  about  them  in  the  most  degraded  of  the 
animal  kingdom  ?  Certainly  not. 

De  Candolle  and  Tiedernann,  trampling  under  foot  purely 
theoretical  views,  rightly  admitted  the  mobility  of  plants. 
The  latter  physiologist  justly  observes  that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary for  the  performance  of  this  act  that  they  should  possess 
fibres  analogous  to  our  muscles,  and  that  the  Medusae  and 
Infusoria  move  perfectly  well  without  our  being  able  to 
discern  anything  of  the  kind  in  them. 

The  movements  of  plants  are  spontaneous  or  accidental. 
In  the  one  case  we  see  them  operate  by  the  instinctive  im- 
pulse of  vegetable  life ;  in  the  other  the  plant  only  with- 
draws itself  from  injury  when  it  is  irritated. 


442  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Under  the  influence  of  light  and  temperature  plants  ex- 
hibit various  movements.  So  great  is  the  action  of  these 
upon  the  organism  that  it  is  entirely  changed.  This  is  what 
we  see  happen  in  their  sleep,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  pre- 
vents certain  species  from  being  recognized,  and  totally 
changes  the  look  of  a  meadow  or  forest. 

It  is  particularly  in  the  leaves  that  we  meet  this  remark- 
able phenomenon,  which  approximates  plants  so  much  to 
animal  life. 


198.  Semaphore  Plant:  Desmodia  oscillans. 

Tn  this  respect  the  Semaphore  plant  (Desmodia  oscillans) 
ought  to  occupy  the  first  place ;  the  mobility  observed  in  it 
surpasses  enormously  that  of  many  inferior  animals.  It  is 
an  Indian  plant  of  the  family  of  Leguminosao,  each  leaf  of 
which  is  composed  of  a  great  terminal  leaflet  and  two 
smaller  ones  which  approximate  at  its  base.  When  the  sun 
falls  upon  the  Desmodia,  these  two  leaflets  go  through  a 
very  remarkable  series  of  continuous  oscillations.  They  ad- 
vance and  retire  successively  one  from  the  other  with  a 
trembling,  jerking  movement,  which  resembles  that  of  the 
seconds-hand  of  a  watch  or  the  arms  of  a  semaphore  tele- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  443 

graph.  There  is  such  a  similarity  between  these  movements 
and  those  of  animals  that  they  cease  under  the  influence 
of  uie  same  agents.  If  a  plant  be  sprinkled  with  opium 
it  falls  into  a  state  of  narcotism,  and  its  oscillations  are 
utterly  stopped. 

The  activity  of  the  Semaphore  plant  is  so  energetic  that 
it  is  not  arrested  in  boughs  which  have  been  cut  from  the 
parent  plant.  Broussonnet  saw  the  leaflets  of  a  branch 
which  he  had  plunged  into  water  move  for  three  days 
after. 

In  the  leaves  of  the  Nepenthes,  or  pitcher-plant,  the  phe- 
nomenon is  not  less  apparent.  Every  night,  as  we  have 
said,  the  lids  of  their  pitchers  close  while  the  water  is  dis- 
tilled inside,  and  in  the  morning  the  vase  opens  spontane- 
ously, as  if  to  offer  itself  to  the  traveller. 

In  a  host  of  flowers  the  stamens  and  pistils  at  the  time  of 
fecundation  are  visibly  agitated,  bending  one  towards  the 
other  in  order  to  accomplish  their  task.  In  some,  such  as 
the  Cacti  and  the  imperial  fritillary  (Fritillaria  imperialis, 
Linn.),  it  is  the  stamens  that  are  affected  with  this  un- 
wonted mobility ;  in  others,  which  is  the  rarer  case,  the 
pistils  lean  towards  the  other  sex,  as  is  noticed  in  the  flow- 
ers of  the  Nigellse  and  the  Passiflorae. 

There  are  certain  Nympheae  which  during  the  day  ex- 
pand their  flowers  on  the  tranquil  surface  of  some  river, 
and  at  night  sleep  in  its  depths. 

To  these  spontaneous  acts  must  be  added  accidental  irri- 
tations, from  the  action  of  which  the  organs  strive  so  ener- 
getically to  escape.  We  have  seen  with  what  extraordinary 
rapidity  the  sensitive  plant  shrinks  from  the  least  injury. 


444  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  shock  is  so  great  that  the  whole  plant  seems  to  sink  to 
the  earth ;  the  boughs  and  the  leaves  fall  as  if  struck  by 
lightning. 

The  disturbance  caused  by  an  insect  is  enough  to  agitate 
the  leaves  of  other  plants.     This  is  seen  in  several  little 


199.  Venus'  Flytrap:    Dioncea  muscipula  (Linnaeus). 

species  which  have  become  celebrated  on  account  of  their 
extreme  irritability.  The  most  remarkable  of  these  is  the 
Venus'  Flytrap  (Dioncea  muscipula),  the  leaves  of  which 
are  so  many  insidious  snares  for  insects,  living  traps  in  fact. 
Their  expanded  end  presents  two  little  palettes,  armed  with 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  445 

teeth  along  their  edges,  and  united  by  a  longitudinal  hinge. 
Each  of  these  palettes  is  furnished  with  three  pointed 
spines,  placed,  towards  the  middle  of  it,  and  surrounded  by 
glands,  which  distil  a  sugary  fluid.  When  some  imprudent 
insect,  attracted  by  the  honeyed  juice,  lights  upon  the  leaf, 
this,  irritated  by  the  contact,  suddenly  brings  its  lobes  to- 
gether, just  as  we  close  a  book,  and  pierces  it  with  its  darts, 
compressing  it  more  closely  in  proportion  as  it  struggles 
harder.  The  palettes  only  open  when  the  animal,  quite  ex- 
hausted, ceases  to  move,  but  it  is  then  frequently  too  late ; 
the  prisoner  is  dead.  The  leaflets  contract  with  such  force 
that  when  they  are  closed  they  tear  sooner  than  open.1 

One  of  our  marsh  plants,  the  sun-dew,  or  Round-Leaved 
Drosera  (Drosera  rotundifolia,  Linn.),  is  equally  treacher- 

1  According  to  an  English  savant,  the  Flytrap  Dionsea  (Dioncea  mmcipula) 
does  not  close  the  panels  of  its  trap  merely  to  punish  the  insect  which  irritates 
it,  but  to  suck  out  and  feed  on  its  juices,  so  that  it  would  be  a  carnivorous  plant. 
This  observer  maintains  that  such  food  is  so  indispensable  to  the  plant  that  it 
fades  when  deprived  of  it  by  inclosing  it  in  a  framework  of  wire  or  perforated 
zinc;  although  if,  from  time  to  time,  a  few  morsels  of  meat  be  placed  upon  its 
leaves,  the  Dionaea  remains  healthy  even  when  here. 

[The  carnivorous  habits  of  certain  plants  have  now  been  well  established  by 
the  experiments  of  Dr.  Hooker,  Mr.  Darwin,  and  others.  Among  these  vegetable 
carnivora  are  the  flytrap  and  sun-dew,  mentioned  above  in  the  text,  the  side- 
saddle plants  (Sarracenia)  of  North  America,  one  of  which  is  figured  at  page  403, 
and  the  pitcher-plants  (Nepenthes)  of  North  America,  also  figured  in  the  preced- 
ing pages.  The  Venus'  Flytrap  contracts  with  such  force  as  to  crush  and  kill  a 
fly  between  its  lobes.  A  quantity  of  juice  is  then  secreted  by  the  inner  surface 
of  the  leaf,  and  this  fluid  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  cause  the  liquefaction  of  the 
insect,  and  enable  it  to  be  absorbed  by  the  plant.  This  process  of  liquefaction 
and  absorption  is  of  the  same  nature  as  that  by  which  food  is  digested  in  the 
stomach  of  the  higher  animals.  The  pitcher-plant  and  others  also  secrete  a 
digestive  fluid  which  enables  them  to  absorb  the  nutritive  elements  of  their 
victims.  —  TR.J 


446  THE   UNIVERSE. 

ous  with  respect  to  little  winged  insects,  but  after  another 
method,  which  we  might  almost  call  physico-vital.  All  the 
upper  surface  of  its  leaves  is  covered  with  long  slender  fila- 
ments, each  bearing  at  its  end  a  little  drop  of  glutinous 
fluid,  and  every  imprudent  fly  that  comes  among  them  for 
the  purposes  of  plunder  finds  there  a  certain  death.  Its 
wings  and  feet  being  glued  with  the  secretion,  all  escape  is 
rendered  impossible.  Whenever,  on  a  botanical  excursion, 
we  find  this  plant  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Seine,  we  al- 
ways observe  that  its  leaves  are  plentifully  garnished  with 
the  dead  bodies  of  its  victims. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  botanist  can  succeed  in  demon- 
strating vegetable  irritability  by  experiment.  For  this 
purpose  it  suffices  to  excite  certain  organs  with  the  point  of 
a  needle  or  a  fine  scalpel.  So  soon  as  we  touch  the  stamens 
of  the  barberry,  the  nettle,  or  the  cactus,  we  see  them 
shrink  quickly  from  the  instrument.  In  the  same  way  the 
pistils  of  the  Mimulus  bring  their  blades  together  when  the 
least  prick  is  made. 

Lastly,  this  mobility  is  again  seen  manifesting  itself  spon- 
taneously with  extraordinary  intensity  in  the  pollinic  ani- 
malcules of  certain  plants,  which  are  furnished  for  this  pur- 
pose with  special  organs  or  ciliae,  by  means  of  which  they 
swim  in  every  direction  in  the  fluid  which  contains  them  ! 
(See  Fig.  171.) 

Some  true  animalcule-plants  are  formed  like  eels,  and 
move  by  the  aid  of  two  long  filaments  which  they  carry  on 
their  heads.  This  is  seen  in  the  common  Chara  of  our 
ponds.  Others,  which  flit  about  in  the  cells  of  mosses,  are 
exactly  like  the  tadpoles  of  frogs. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  447 

And  yet  these  creatures,  the  locomotive  organs  of  which 
we  can  see  so  plainly,  and  which  the  microscopist  beholds 
capering  as  nimbly  as  our  mountebanks  in  their  dangerous 
leaps,  are  obstinately  considered  by  certain  botanists,  for 
the  sake  of  mere  theory,  as  being  insensible  and  incapable 
of  moving.  Do  some  learned  men  possess  eyes  only  in  or- 
der  not  to  see  with  them  ? 


CHAPTER  X. 

PHYSIOLOGY    OF    FLOWERS. 

IN  the  flower,  this  glorious  and  supreme  effort  of  vegeta- 
ble life,  the  poetic  imagination  of  Linnaeus  beheld  only  the 
picture  of  a  chaste  marriage.  The  calyx,  which  grasps  the 
corolla  in  its  rustic  arms,  was  to  him  only  the  nuptial  couch, 
of  which  the  delicate  and  undulating  petals  formed  the 
mysterious  curtains.  Lastly,  in  the  centre  sat  the  modest 
spouses,  intoxicating  themselves  with  love,  enveloped  in  a 
cloud  of  perfume,  and  their  feet  bathed  in  nectar. 

But  all  plants  do  not  display  to  us  in  this  way  the  calm 
magnificence  of  their  nuptials.  The  secrets  of  these  are 
quite  hidden  in  many  of  them,  which  the  greatest  and  most 
ingenious  of  botanists  named,  for  this  reason,  Cryptogamia, 
signifying  secret  marriage. 

Among  plants  which  are  ornamented  with  visible  flowers, 
these  exhibit  an  endless  variety  of  size,  form,  coloring,  and 
perfume. 

While  some,  such  as  the  valerians,  bear  such  tiny  corol- 


448  THE    UNIVERSE. 

las  that  we  can  scarcely  make  them  out,  the  lilies  and  irises 
exhibit  grand  and  sumptuous  structures  of  this  class,  which 
rivet  every  person's  attention ;  and  yet  some  exotic  plants 
leave  them  far  behind  in  this  respect. 

The  flower  of  one  Aristolochia,  which  grows  on  the  banks 
of  the  Magdalena,  presents  the  appearance  of  a  helmet  with 
great  edges.  The  opening  of  it  is  so  large  that  it  will  admit 
the  head  of  a  man ;  and  Humboldt  relates  that,  when  trav- 
elling along  by  this  river,  he  sometimes  encountered  sav- 
ages wearing  this  flower  on  their  heads  like  a  hat. 

But  it  is  on  the  surface  of  rivers  that  the  pomp  of  vege- 
tation is  displayed.  Nature  nowhere  shows  another  flower 
which,  for  size  united  to  coloring,  can  be  compared  to 
those  of  the  Nymphsese  and  the  Nelumbia,  commonly 
called  water-lilies  and  lotuses.  By  gentle  gradations  they 
pass  from  the  purest  white  to  the  most  velvety  red  or  the 
most  delicate  blue  !  In  every  age  these  magnificent  plants 
have  attracted  man's  attention,  and  been  the  object  of  his 
admiration.  Art  has  made  a  splendid  use  of  them,  and  to 
them  the  ancient  myths  owe  some  of  their  most  delicate 
and  beautiful  conceptions. 

They  play  a  great  part  in  mythology  and  on  Egyptian 
monuments.  The  colonnades  of  Thebes  and  Philae,  which 
seem  to  defy  the  hand  of  time,  are  crowned  with  capitals 
representing  flowers  of  the  Nymphaea  in  full  bloom,  with 
which  the  sculptors  of  the  Pharaohs  have  sometimes  inter- 
mingled bunches  of  dates. 

There  is  no  Egyptian  monument  on  which  Isis  is  not  rep- 
resented surrounded  by  the  lotus,  or  holding  bouquets  of  it 
in  her  hands.  This  flower  was  the  indispensable  ornament 


200.  Sacred  Lotus  of  the  Egyptians :  Nelumbium  specwsum. 
29 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  451 

of  the  immortal  goddess.  In  the  Hindoo  temples  it  also 
serves  as  a  seat  for  Bramah,  who  is  represented  sitting  and 
holding  in  his  hands  the  sacred  Yedas. 

Yet  the  brilliant  rose  and  white  flower  of  the  Victoria 
regia,  which  ornaments  the  waves  of  the  Amazon,  attains 
still  more  remarkable  proportions  than  the  foregoing,  being 
sometimes  a  yard  in  circumference. 

But  the  flower  of  the  Rafflesia  Arnoldi,  a  perfect  monster 
of  vegetation,  leaves  all  these  far  behind  !  It  is  found  in 
the  forests  of  Java  and  Sumatra.  Its  outlines  and  gigantic 
proportions  separate  it  so  widely  from  everything  known, 
that,  in  spite  of  the  assertions  of  travellers,  botanists  refused 
to  believe,  and  persisted  in  looking  upon  the  colossus  as  a 
fetid  Fungus.  The  discussion  did  not  cease  till  one  of  these 
flowers  was  sent  to  London,  and  examined  by  R.  Brown, 
who  dissipated  all  doubts.  Each  flower  was  found  to  be 
composed  of  a  fleshy  mass  weighing  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
pounds.  Its  border,  the  circuit  of  which  was  not  less  than 
ten  feet,  showed  five  lobes,  forming  a  gaping  excavation 
capable  of  holding  a  dozen  pints  of  fluid. 

This  strange  and  eccentric  flower,  which  botanists  still 
regard  as  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  vegetable  world,  looks 
at  first  sight  like  one  of  the  huge  Fungi  commonly  called 
puff-balls,  and  it  is  only  when  it  has  displayed  its  thick  and 
flesh-colored  petals  that  its  true  nature  is  revealed.  It  ex- 
hales a  repulsive  carrion-like  smell. 

The  naturalist  stands  stupefied  at  such  an  exuberant  pro- 
duction, but  the  Javanese  prostrates  himself  before  it;  he 
almost  makes  a  divinity  of  it,  and  clothes  it  with  supernat- 
ural power.  Yet  its  bulk,  weight,  and  fetor  will  ever  pre- 


452  THE    UNIVERSE. 

vent  us  from  making  use  of  it  for  our  wants  and  enjoy- 
ments.1 

Poetry  has  exhausted  all  its  resources  in  telling  of  the 
perfume  and  color  of  flowers.  Nature  has  surpassed  art, 
and  the  pencil  of  Apelles  and  Rubens  could  not  reproduce 
them  in  all  their  magnificence.  And  yet  one  color,  black, 
is  wanting,  amid  this  multitude  of  varied  tints.  Some  co- 
rollas, such  as  those  of  certain  Scabiosae,  are,  it  is  true,  of  a 
sombre  purple,  but  a  perfect  black  is  never  seen  in  this 
organ. 

One  phenomenon  occurs  in  respect  to  flowers  which  has 
been  a  good  deal  talked  about,  namely,  the  mutability  of 
color  which  they  exhibit.  Pallas,  when  exploring  the  banks 
of  the  Volga,  remarked  with  astonishment  that  a  species  of 
anemone,  the  Anemone  patens,  sometimes  bore  white  flow- 

1  Here  and  there  in  desolate  spots  in  Southwest  Africa  grows  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  plants  in  the  world,  the  Welwitschia  mirabilis.  It  looks  perhaps 
almost  as  much  like  an  immense  red  and  green  Polypus  as  anything.  It  has  two 
leaves,  nine  or  ten  feet  long,  and  of  a  pale  green  color.  Under  the  influence  of 
heat  and  drought  these  split  up  into  ribbons.  In  the  centre  is  a  woody  mass,  with 
a  rough  bark  or  cork-like  surface,  rising  a  foot  or  so  above  the  ground,  and  bear- 
ing round  its  edges,  just  within  the  insertion  of  the  leaves,  an  assemblage  of 
small  stems  about  six  inches  long,  dividing  into  smaller  branches,  each  of  which 
bears  from  three  to  five  cones,  three  inches  in  length,  and  three  quarters  of  an 
inch  thick,  of  an  elongated  oval  form  and  crimson  color,  tinted  with  green  in  the 
less  developed  specimens,  and  marked  with  scales  like  those  of  a  fir-cone.  The 
leaves  are  so  straight-grained  that  they  can  be  torn  from  top  to  bottom  without 
deviating  a  single  line  from  a  straight  course.  Rain  rarely  or  never  falls  where 
this  plant  exists.  The  plant  seems  sometimes  to  attain  a  much  greater  size  than 
mentioned  above,  the  leaves  being  two  and  even  three  fathoms  long;  and  the  apex 
of  the  trunk,  or  rather,  from  the  confused  account  given  of  it,  the  flower  itself, 
being  six  feet  wide,  and  opening  like  two  immense  clam-shells,  some  eighteen 
inches  across. —  Science  and  Art,  vol.  i. —  TR. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  453 

ers,  sometimes  yellow,  and  sometimes  red  flowers.  This 
phenomenon,  still  unexplained,  appeared  so  abnormal  that 
it  was  mentioned  everywhere.  It  is,  however,  common 
enough  ;  and  we  may  observe  it  any  time  in  France  with- 
out encountering  such  a  long  journey. 

The  field-pimpernel  (Anagallis  arvensis),  so  common  in 
our  country  districts,  frequently  displays  this  change.  Usu- 
ally its  flower  is  of  a  vermilion  red,  but  it  is  also  some- 
times of  a  magnificent  sky  blue,  which  made  some  botanists 
think  there  were  two  different  species. 

A  pretty  little  plant  of  the  genus  Myosotis,  which  is  met 
with  in  our  arid  grounds,  varies  still  more  singularly  in  its 
color,  for  on  the  same  stalk  we  find  at  the  same  time  red, 
yellow,  and  blue  flowers,  —  a  peculiarity  to  which  this  spe- 
cies owes  the  name  of  Myosotis  diversicolor  which  has  been 
given  to  it. 

Other  plants  display  a  still  more  remarkable  phenome- 
non, for  in  them  the  same  flower  changes  its  color  at  dif- 
ferent hours  of  the  day.  This  happens  with  the  Hibiscus 
mutabilis,  the  corollas  of  which  are  white  in  the  morning, 
become  rose-colored  towards  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  in 
the  evening  take  on  a  beautiful  red  tint. 

The  successive  change  in  the  tints  of  the  corolla  is  easily 
conceived  ;  it  may  depend  on  vital  action  or  on  chemical 
reactions  effected  by  time ;  but  what  is  much  more  difficult 
to  explain  is  that  flowers  having  displayed  a  certain  cate- 
gory of  changes  during  the  day  go  through  the  same  round 
of  variation  the  day  following.  This  is  observed  in  the  va- 
riously colored  corn-flag  (Gladiolus  versicolor,  Linn.),  the 
corolla  of  which,  brown  in  the  morning,  becomes  blue  in  the 


454 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


evening,  and  on  the   day  following  takes  on  again  exactly 
the  same  succession  of  tints  as  it  showed  the  day  before. 

What  a  variety  of  perfumes  the  flower  possesses  !     And 
yet,  notwithstanding  their  thousand  and  one  shades  of  dif- 


201.  Flowers  of  Raffiesia  Arnoldi. 

ference,  those  whose  sense  of  smell  is  sharpened  by  prac- 
tice can  distinguish  that  of  each  species. 

It  is  even  stated  in  some  works  that  a  young  American, 
who  had  become  quite  blind,  botanized,  guided  by  the  smell 
only,  in  the  midst  of  prairies  enamelled  with  luxuriant  veg- 
etation, and  never  committed  any  mistake  in  his  gleanings. 

The  odors  which  exhale  from  plants  are  almost  always 
delightful ;  it  is  only  rarely  that  they  are  repulsive. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  455 

The  poisonous  vapors  which  envelop  the  poppy  and  nen- 
uphar reveal  their  narcotic  properties.  Infectious  exhala- 
tions, precisely  like  those  from  putrefied  meat,  escape  from 
the  flowers  of  the  Stapelia  and  Arum,  and  thus  the  insect, 
deceived  by  them,  deposits  on  their  calyces  a  carnivorous 
progeny,  which  must  infallibly  perish.  Some  plants  emit 
odors  exactly  like  those  produced  by  certain  animals :  an 
orchis  of  our  forests  (Satyrium  hyrcinum,  Linn.)  repels  us 
by  its  goat-like  stench.  Other  plants  attract  us  by  their 
sweetness:  thus  the  musk-mallow  (Malva  moschata,  Linn.) 
distils  the  same  perfume  as  the  musk  animal  (Moschus  mos- 
chiferus,  Linn.). 

The  perfume  of  flowers  seems  to  depend  upon  the  volatil- 
ization of  an  essential  oil  which  they  secrete  in  their  most 
hidden  recesses.  In  some  plants  this  is  palpably  the  fact. 
When  the  atmosphere  is  very  still  the  odorous  vapors  col- 
lect round  them,  and  can  be  burned  by  means  of  an  ignited 
substance. 

By  employing  very  varied  methods,  the  successors  of  the 
skilful  perfumers  whom  Mary  of  Medici  brought  to  France 
from  Italy  collect  the  odoriferous  essences  exhaled  from  the 
flowers,  and  which  also  saturate  many  other  organs.  The 
otto  of  roses,  one  of  the  treasures  of  the  East,  is  only  this 
oil  in  a  concrete  state.1  Camphor  offers  us  another  under 
the  form  of  crystals. 

1  From  what  Homer  says,  it  seems  that  in  his  time  men  already  knew  how  to 
prepare  a  kind  of  oil  of  roses  by  infusing  these  flowers  in  an  oily  liquid,  and  it  is 
certain  that  in  antiquity  they  were  cultivated  in  order  to  extract  a  perfume  from 
them.  The  Island  of  Rhodes  even  owed  its  name  of  Island  of  Roses  to  the  fame 
of  its  cultivation  of  rose-trees;  but  probably  the  use  of  this  perfume  was  discon- 
tinued, for  rose-water  is  not  mentioned  by  authors,  and  it  is  spoken  of  for  the 


456  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  secretion  of  the  perfume  is  usually  continuous,  be- 
ginning at  the  time  the  flower  opens,  and  ceasing  when  it 
fades.  Even  when  the  corolla,  being  altogether  ephem- 
eral, only  lives  for  a  few  minutes,  it  is  still  observed  to  per- 
fume the  air  during  these  brief  moments.  This  is  seen  in 
the  magnificent  Cactus  grandiflorus.  Quite  inodorous  a 
few  instants  before  it  blows,  it  discharges  a  scented  cloud 
when,  towards  twilight,  its  calyx  opens ;  but  the  enchant- 
ment vanishes  before  midnight,  with  the  death  and  decom- 
position of  the  flower. 

Some  flowers  of  nocturnal  habits,  which  do  not  disdain  to 
lend  life  to  the  night,  shed  their  perfumes  only  during  the 
darkness;  these  are  the  bats  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
Their  sombre  mournful  hue  has  often  led  botanists  to  sad- 
dle them  with  unpleasing  names ;  tristis  or  nocturnus  is  the 

first  time  in  the  works  of  Avicenna.  The  Orientals,  in  the  times  which  preceded 
ours,  employed  it  with  extraordinary  profusion.  Some  historians  assert  that  when 
Saladin  took  Jerusalem,  in  1188,  he  caused  the  interior  of  Omar's  mosque  to  be 
washed  with  rose-water,  and  for  this  purpose  it  was  employed  in  such  quantities 
that  Father  Sanut  relates  that  500  camels  were  employed  to  bring  it  from  Damas- 
cus. Mahomet  II.  also,  after  the  taking  of  Constantinople,  ordered  St.  Sophia  to 
be  washed  in  the  same  way.  According  to  Father  Catrou's  account,  the  Princess 
Nourmahal  surpassed  both,  for  she  collected  sufficient  rose-water  to  fill  a  canal, 
on  which  was  launched  a  bark,  which  bore  her,  accompanied  by  the  Great  Mogul. 
Indeed,  it  was  during  this  remarkable  trip  that  the  essence  of  rose  was  discovered, 
having  formed  at  the  surface  of  the  artificial  lake  owing  to  evaporation  caused  by 
the  sun. 

The  essential  oil  of  roses  is  one  of  the  most  exquisite  and  dearest  perfumes,  and 
justly  bears  the  title  of  attar,  or  sweetest  of  fragrances.  About  100  pounds  of 
flowers  are  requisite  to  obtain  nine  to  twelve  drachms  (avoirdupois)  of  this  oil, 
which  comes  to  us  from  the  East  and  India,  and  which  is  often  called  butter  of 
roses.  Hippocrates  and  Galon  were  acquainted  with  this  product,  and  often  em- 
ployed it  in  medicine;  nowadays  it  is  only  employed  to  perfume  linen  and  rooms. 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  457 

designation  for  nearly  all  the  plants  which  present  this  sin- 
gularity, as,  for  instance,  the  Pelargonium  triste,  the  Gladi- 
olus tristis,  and  the  Oestrum  nocturnum. 

The  emanations  from  plants  produce  upon  us  physiolog- 
ical effects  which  are  well  worth  studying.  If  too  concen- 
trated, they  may  give  rise  to  serious  symptoms,  to  convul- 
sions and  spasms,  or  they  may  even  induce  death. 

These  different  phenomena  have  been  particularly  ob- 
served in  persons  keeping  nosegays  near  them  during  the 
night.  The  flowers  exhale,  as  we  know,  carbonic  acid  ;  but 
in  the  cases  we  speak  of  the  accidents  ought  not  to  be 
ascribed  to  lethal  vapors,  but  to  the  odorous  exhalations 
from  the  flowers,  which  operate,  as  Orfila  says,  like  certain 
poisons,  for  they  act  fatally  upon  some  individuals,  and  do 
not  affect  others  in  the  least. 

In  1779  a  woman  died  in  London  during  the  night  from 
having  kept  a  large  bouquet  of  irises  in  her  room.  Triller 
saw  a  young  girl  perish  in  the  same  way  from  the  effects 
of  a  bouquet  of  violets  ;  and  it  has  been  stated  that  work- 
men who  have  imprudently  fallen  asleep  upon  bales  of  saf- 
fron have  died  in  consequence. 

The  scent  of  roses,  so  much  sought  for  everywhere,  causes 
repugnance  in  some  persons,  and  inconveniences  others. 
Catherine  of  Medici  could  not  endure  it ;  and  her  aver- 
sion to  these  flowers  was  so  great  that  it  was  enough  for 
her  to  see  the  painting  of  one  to  be  seized  with  some  de- 
gree of  nausea.  The  Chevalier  de  Guise  was  still  more 
easily  affected,  for  he  fainted  at  the  sight  of  a  bunch  of 
roses. 

Some   cases  are  even  told  in  which  the  smell  of  these 


458  THE   UNIVERSE. 

flowers  sufficed  to  produce  instant  death,  but  they  are  per- 
haps apocryphal.1 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   NUPTIALS    OF   PLANTS. 

DARWIN  wrote  a  delightful  poem  entitled  the  "  Loves  of 
the  Plants."  The  chaste  pen  of  the  English  poet  has  there 
sketched,  in  a  most  attractive  manner,  the  mysterious  his- 
tory of  the  fecundation  of  plants.  All  is  hidden  behind 
a  most  graceful  veil,  and  there  is  nothing  to  alarm  the 
strictest  propriety. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  flower  is  difficult  to  describe.  Lin- 
naeus, by  the  medium  of  one  of  the  most  ingenious  meta- 
phors, gives  a  charming  idea  of  it.  It  is,  he  says,  the  nup- 
tial couch  in  which  the  wedding  of  the  plants  is  celebrated. 
This  yields  a  delightful  perfume  of  poesy,  but  so  soon  as 
we  aspire  to  more  exactitude  the  difficulty  begins. 

What  is  popularly  called  the  flower  is  but  a  sumptuous 
and  almost  useless  ornament ;  the  most  essential  parts  lie 
unperceived.  In  the  eyes  of  the  botanist  the  true  floral 
apparatus  consists  only  of  the  little  filaments  placed  near 
the  centre.  These  are  the  spouses :  the  pistils  or  brides, 
and  the  stamens  or  bridegrooms. 

1  The  death  of  one  of  the  daughters  of  Nicholas  I.,  Count  of  Salins  (in  the 
department  of  Jura),  and  that  of  a  Bishop  of  Poland,  are  attributed  to  the  ema- 
nations from  roses.  But  these  facts,  related  by  the  historian  Cromer,  are  prob- 
ably inexact. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  459 

It  is  for  them  that  nature  displays  her  most  sumptuous 
adornments.  The  velvety  curtains  of  their  virgin  couch, 
woven  by  the  hands  of  fairies,  steep  them  in  light  and  fire 
amidst  their  folds  of  purple  and  sapphire.  In  one  part, 
faithless  husbands  profusely  scatter  life  and  fecundity  on 
everything  around  them  ;  in  another  chaste  households  live 
retired,  and  jealous  brides  conceal  their  lovers  beneath 
domes  of  azure  and  gold. 

The  delicate  envelopes  which  attract  our  regards  repre- 
sent only  the  ephemeral  and  perfumed  palace  in  which  the 
mysteries  of  Hymen  are  about  to  be  accomplished.  But  so 
soon  as  the  golden  dust  of  the  stamens  is  spread  upon  the 
altar,  the  odorous  sources  dry  up,  the  veils  of  the  temple 
fade  and  wither,  and  the  marvellous  edifice  soon  lies  scat- 
tered on  the  ground,  whilst  the  now  fruitful  mother  silently 
nourishes  her  precious  offspring. 

All  flowers  do  not  exhibit  such  luxury  in  these  or- 
gans. Generally  they  possess  two  protecting  envelopes,  and 
contain,  at  the  same  time,  ardent  husbands  and  tender 
wives. 

More  rarely  they  present  only  one  sex.  In  this  case  the 
one  class,  without  ornament  and  without  perfume,  only 
contains  a  few  cenobites;  whilst  others  display  all  the 
splendor  of  a  harem,  the  perfumed  canopies  of  which  only 
veil  a  bevy  of  sultanas. 

Nature's  aim  is  always  clearly  defined,  and  she  has  pro- 
fuse resources  for  attaining  it.  A  few  grains  of  pollen,  al- 
most invisible,  are  enough  to  impregnate  a  flower,  and  she 
pours  it  out  open-handed ;  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  it  may 
be  lost.  A  single  spouse  —  and  this  is  the  case  with  certain 


460  THE    UNIVERSE. 

of  the  Cacti  —  is  sometimes  surrounded  with  five  hundred 
husbands.1 

It  is  even  observed  that  nature  multiplies  her  resources 
further  in  order  to  insure  the  reproduction  of  plants  when 
the  sexes  reside  each  in  a  separate  flower,  and  sometimes 
on  plants  separated  by  a  great  distance.  The  corollas  with 
stamens  produce  an  enormous  quantity  of  pollen  dust, 
which  makes  up  for  the  difficulty  of  communication.  This 
strikes  every  observer  who  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  a 
pine-forest.  The  pollen  is  often  borne  away  from  the  trees 
in  such  abundance  that  it  covers  all  the  surrounding  coun- 
try with  its  yellow  dust.  This  is  the  phenomenon  known 
by  the  name  of  "  sulphur- rain. "  And,  indeed,  owing  to  its 
yellow  color  and  the  way  in  which  it  burns  with  a  bright 
flame,  pollen  has  been  thought  akin  to  sulphur  by  some  in- 
experienced observers.  Sometimes  when  it  falls  upon  the 
roofs  of  the  neighboring  towns,  it  tints  them  all  over  with  a 
pale  yellow. 

At  the  moment  when  the  curtains  of  the  nuptial  couch 

1  When  a  grain  of  pollen  has  fallen  upon  the  stigma,  and  is  retained  by  the 
hairs  projecting  from  the  surface,  a  pollen  tube  is  emitted,  apparently  owing  to 
endosmotic  action  between  the  fluid  exudation  from  the  stigma  and  the  contents 
of  the  pollen  cell,  which  latter  bursts  and  sets  free  the  inner  lining  of  the  cell  in 
the  form  of  a  cylindrical  tube.  This  tube  passes  down  between  the  cells  of  the 
style,  lengthening  out  till  it  at  last  reaches  the  ovules  in  the  cavity  of  the  ovary. 
This  lengthening  was  at  one  time  thought  to  be  merely  extension,  but  is  now 
supposed  to  be  due  to  actual  interstitial  growth.  Having  arrived  here,  the  pol- 
len tube  enters  the  foramen  at  the  top  of  the  ovule  left  by  the  imperfect  closing 
of  its  investments,  and  thus  comes  in  contact  with  the  nucleus  and  embryo-sac. 
In  this  sac  there  are  at  the  top  some  minute  vesicles  called  the  germinal  vesicles, 
one  or  sometimes  two  of  which,  under  contact,  lengthen  out  into  a  slender  cellu- 
lar thread,  and  at  one  end  of  this  thread  is  the  embryo-plant. —  The  Life  of  a 
Seed,  by  Maxwell  T.  Masters,  M.  D.  —  TB. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.      .  461 

are  opened  the  plants  appear  to  suffer  a  febrile  excitement. 
Unwonted  movements  are  observed  in  their  floral  organs, 
and  the  temperature  is  sometimes  raised  in  a  very  remark- 
able manner.  It  seems,  as  the  physiologist  Burdach  says, 
that  at  such  moments  the  plant  issues  from  its  humble 
sphere  and  shows  us  traces  of  animal  life.  The  stamens 
are  agitated,  and  quit  their  places,  bending  towards  the 
stigmata.  More  rarely,  as  if  modesty  were  inherent  in 
the  delicacy  of  flowers,  the  pistils  advance  towards  their 
spouses. 

By  means  of  thermo-electric  needles  it  has  been  proved 
that  the  elevation  of  temperature  in  the  flower  is  a  wide- 
spread phenomenon.  In  some  plants  this  heat  is  so  great 
that  an  instrument  of  accuracy  is  not  requisite  to  show  it ; 
the  simplest  thermometer  suffices.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
touch  even  the  flower  in  certain  arums  to  observe  that  it  is 
of  a  burning  heat,  and  we  are  astonished  that  it  can  sup- 
port such  a  temperature  without  being  consumed.  De  Can- 
dolle  observed  that  a  thermometer  plunged  into  the  spathe 
of  an  Italian  arum  rose  to  143°  36'  Fahr.1 

From  the  remotest  antiquity  men  seem  to  have  under- 
stood the  mysterious  loves  of  plants.  The  question  was 
practically  solved,  for  Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  Babylo- 
nians knew  how  to  distinguish  male  from  female  date-trees, 

1  It  was  Lamarck  who  discovered  that  the  flower  of  the  arum  gives  out  consid- 
erable heat  at  the  time  of  fecundation.  De  Candolle  verified  this  fact  at  Mont- 
pellier.  It  is  a  very  remarkable  phenomenon.  I  observed  that  at  a  certain 
moment  the  flowers  of  some  Colocasiae  grew  so  warm  that  their  heat  was  felt  by 
the  fingers  of  those  who  touched  them.  In  other  flowers  the  phenomenon  is  less 
evident,  still  it  is  general.  Brongniart,  Dutrochet,  Biot,  and  Schultze  have  rec- 
ognized it  by  means  of  thermo-electric  needles. 


462  THE    UNIVERSE. 

and  that  in  his  day,  in  the  environs  of  their  immense  city, 
they  occupied  themselves  with  the  artificial  fecundation  of 
the  latter, 

The  first  travellers  who,  in  imitation  of  Prosper  Alpinus, 
taught  us  true  notions  as  to  the  manners  of  the  Orientals 
state  that  they  were  so  well  acquainted  with  the  fertilizing 
power  of  the  stamens  that  they  were  accustomed,  from  the 
most  distant  times,  to  place  their  female  date-trees  to  the 
leeward  of  the  males,  in  order  that  they  might  more  effect- 
ually receive  the  prolific  dust. 

At  the  present  day  the  negroes  know  perfectly  that  the 
loss  of  the  male  stems  completely  checks  the  production  of 
the  fruit.  Hence,  when,  in  time  of  wars,  they  wish  to 
starve  their  enemies  out,  they  content  themselves  with  de- 
stroying the  stamen-bearing  palms,  which  are  much  the  less 
numerous. 

In  Egypt  the  harvest  of  dates  has  for  ages  been  assured 
by  mounting  the  palms  and  shaking  the  male  panicles  upon 
the  female  flowers.  At  the  time  of  the  French  invasion  the 
Arabs  were  not  in  a  position  to  take  this  precaution,  being 
more  occupied  with  war  than  with  agricultural  labors ;  and 
consequently  in  this  year,  according  to  the  statement  of  the 
botanist  Delille,  who  was  a  member  of  the  expedition,  the 
date-trees  were  barren. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  admitted  that  if  the  ancients 
observed  the  sexual  nature  of  plants  they  often  deceived 
themselves  on  the  subject.  Pliny  alone,  in  his  thirteenth 
book,  describes  the  fecundation  of  the  palm-tree  with  a  per- 
fection which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  surpass. 

But  we  must  turn  to  Linnaeus  in  order  to  see  this  fact 
demonstrated  experimentally  for  the  first  time. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  463 

In  a  charming  production  entitled,  the  "  Marriage  of 
Plants  "  (Sponsalia  Plantarurn),  the  great  botanist  initiates 
us  into  many  marvels.  In  it  he  relates  that  having  taken 
two  specimens  of  the  annual  mercury  (Mercurialis  annua, 
Linn.),  the  one  male  and  the  other  female,  growing  in  sep- 
arate pots,  the  fecundity  of  the  latter  was  more  marked  in 
proportion  as  her  spouse  was  nearer.  Even  at  a  consider- 
able distance  impregnation  still  took  place ;  the  air  becom- 
ing the  mysterious  medium  of  communication  between  the 
plants.  But  when  the  stalk  charged  with  stamens,  with 
which  the  experiment  was  made,  was  removed  from  the 
greenhouse  the  abandoned  wife  remained  quite  sterile. 

A  few  years  subsequently  to  the  time  of  this  learned 
botanist,  Gleditsch  likewise  proved  the  fecundation  of  plants 
by  a  transcendent  demonstration.  He  had  in  his  garden  at 
Berlin  a  female  palm-tree,  the  verdant  crown  of  which 
yearly  overshadowed  numerous  flowers,  and  each  year  these 
were  infallibly  stricken  with  sterility.  But  having  learned 
that  there  was  a  male  plant  of  the  same  species  flourishing 
at  Dresden,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  sending  for  some  of 
the  pollen  in  order  to  artificially  impregnate  the  one  in  his 
possession.  The  pollen  dust  was  immediately  sent  to  him 
by  the  post,  and  a  short  time  after  he  had  sprinkled  it  upon 
the  stigmas  of  his  palm-tree  he  beheld  all  the  flowers  fe- 
cundated by  the  contact  produce  a  corresponding  number 
of  fruits.1 

1  On  one  of  my  visits  to  Strasburg,  Professor  Fde  showed  me  a  female  palm- 
tree  on  which  he  had  repeated  Gleditsch' s  experiment  with  equal  success.  It  was 
a  dwarf  palm-tree,  Chamcerops  kumilis,  the  flowers  of  which  were  fecundated  with 
pollen  sent  from  a  distance.  He  simply  sprinkled  it  upon  them.  All  the  fruit 
was  developing  perfectly  upon  this  palm-tree  when  I  saw  it  in  the  month  of  Au- 
gust, 1855. 


464  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Insects  play  a  great  part  in  vegetable  life;  some  bota- 
nists even  consider  them  as  the  principal  agents  in  fecun- 
dity. While  working  their  way  among  the  stamens  and 
pistils,  they  bear  off  the  fertilizing  dust  from  the  former 
and  transport  it  to  the  others.  The  farmers  on  the  banks 
of  the  Khine  have  even  remarked  that  the  orchards  in 
which  bees  are  reared  are  more  productive  than  those  in 
which  there  are  none. 

In  the  Levant  insects  are  thought  to  have  a  certain 
amount  of  influence  on  the  products  of  the  fig-tree.  Where 
cultivation  is  carried  on  upon  a  large  scale,  they  take 
boughs  from  the  wild  species,  with  numbers  of  the  gall- 
insects  on  them  which  frequent  those  trees,  and  lay  them 
upon  the  cultivated  trees.  These  insects,  penetrating  into 
the  obscure  receptacles  of  their  cloistered  flowers,  spread 
upon  them  the  germs  of  generation.  This  is  the  operation 
that  is  called  "  caprifi cation."  l 

1  Caprification  was  considered  essential  for  the  fructification  of  the  fig-tree. 
Aristotle,  Theophrastus,  and  Pliny  speak  of  it.  Their  accounts  appeared  fabu- 
lous, but  Tournefort  demonstrated  their  correctness,  having  had  an  opportunity 
of  satisfying  himself  during  his  travels  that  this  practice  still  existed  in  the  Le- 
vant. Linnaeus  only  saw  in  caprification  a  step  by  which  insects  transport  pol- 
linic  dust  from  the  male  flowers  of  the  wild  fig-tree  to  the  female  flowers  of  the 
cultivated  species  in  order  to  produce  fecundation. 

But  the  part  played  by  the  insects  is  restricted  to  puncturing  the  receptacle,  — 
a  process  which  stimulates  the  ripening  of  the  figs,  as  it  does  that  of  our  garden 
flowers,  and  enables  us  to  obtain  a  much  larger  yield  of  fruit.  However,  the  figs 
thus  punctured  are  much  less  finely  flavored  than  those  which  ripen  spontane- 
ously; but  it  is  asserted  that  the  trees  thus  operated  on  bear  ten  times  as  many 
figs  as  when  it  is  not  practised.  Tournefort  says  that  a  caprified  fig-tree  yields 
as  much  as  280  Ibs.  of  fruit,  whilst  only  25  Ibs.  can  be  got  from  it  when  it  is  not 
artificially  fructified.  Ollivier,  who  also  saw  this  operation  practised  during  his 
travels  in  the  Levant,  and  Bosc,  the  writer  on  husbandry,  look  upon  it  as  useless. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


465 


Thus  a  single  fly  which  lives  upon  the  fig-tree  providen- 
tially secures  subsistence  and  commercial  wealth  to  the 
greatest  cities  of  the  East. 


202.  Influence  of  Insects  upon  the  Fecundation  of  Flowers.    Willdenow's  experiment  on  the 
Common  Birth  wort :  Artstolochia  Clematitis  (Linnaeus). 

A  tiny  beetle,  by  means  of  its  dainty  taste,  imparts  a 
similar  benefit  to  Greenland,  by  aiding  in  the  reproduction 
of  the  Kamtchatka  lily,  the  bulbs  of  which,  in  the  rigorous 

I  quite  share  their  opinions  ;  my  travels  in  the  East  have  enabled  me  to  satisfy 
myself  that  in  many  countries,  where  they  do  not  practise  this  operation,  the  figs 
are  no  less  fine  and  abundant.  — Pouchet,  Botanique  Applique'e,  t.  ii.,  p.  22. 


466  THE    UNIVERSE. 

winters  of  these  polar  regions,  alone  preserve  all  the  popu- 
lation from  famine. 

Willdenow,  by  means  of  an  interesting  experiment, 
showed  plainly  what  a  part  insects  play  in  respect  to  fructi- 
fication. He  took  an  Aristolochia  Clematitis  and  placed  it 
under  a  cage  covered  with  gauze.  As  this  prevented  the 
animals  from  reaching  and  penetrating  within  the  flowers, 
the  plant  produced  no  fruit.  On  the  other  hand,  another 
Aristolochia  of  the  same  species,  which  stood  by  the  side  of 
it  in  the  open  air,  so  that  the  insects  could  visit  it  as  they 
liked,  had  all  its  flowers  fecundated. 

The  idea  of  the  intervention  exercised  by  insects  is  so 
predominant  with  Burdach  that  he  goes  the  length  of  sup- 
posing that  each  nourishes  its  particular  insect,  the  mission 
of  which  is  to  preside  over  the  mysteries  of  its  espousal. 
According  to  the  German  physiologist,  flowers  only  pre- 
serve their  original  purity  because  their  faithful  visitors 
consecrate  the  whole  course  of  their  ephemeral  existence 
to  them,  and  never  wander  to  another  species.  The  noc- 
turnal plants  are  also  haunted  by  useful  parasites,  which 
only  awake  to  animation  during  the  darkness.1 

Conrad  Sprengel  even  thinks  that  if  so  many  flowers  are 
stricken  with  sterility  in  our  hot-houses,  even  when  parad- 
ing a  superfluity  of  means  for  becoming  mothers,  it  is  be- 
cause their  indispensable  insect  has  not  been  allowed  to 
bear  them  company.  This  is  the  case  with  the  Vanilla. 

1  Dr.  Hildebrand,  of  Bonn,  concludes,  from  several  interesting  experiments  on 
the  fertilization  of  Corydalis  cava,  that  when  the  flowers  of  the  plant  are  pro- 
tected from  insect  influence,  and  acted  on  only  by  their  own  pollen,  they  produce 
no  capsules. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  467 

Since  it  blossoms  in  our  country,  it  might  fructify  if  kept 
duly  supplied  with  heat  by  means  of  a  hot-air  apparatus, 
and  yet  it  remains  quite  barren.  The  same  thing  happens 
with  the  orange-colored  corollas  of  the  Royal  Strelitzia.1 

It  is  especially  in  the  two  great  families,  the  Asclepia- 
dacese  and  Orchidacese,  the  strange  flowers  of  which  remind 
one  of  the  forms  and  brilliant  coloring  of  insects,  that  Na- 
ture seems  to  call  the  latter  to  her  aid.  In  these  the  anthers, 
which  are  like  little  glutinous  clubs,  attach  themselves  to 
the  flies  when  these  come  to  drink  the  nectar,  and  are  by 
them  transported  from  one  flower  to  another  and  deposited 
upon  the  stigmata.  But  for  such  visitors  these  plants  would 
die  out  without  progeny.2 

With  respect  to  other  plants,  Nature  has  intrusted  the 
cares  of  their  conjugal  union  to  the  wings  of  the  wind.  This 
is  the  case  with  the  dioecious  plants,  the  sexes  in  which  are 
separate  and  dwell  on  distinct  plants,  which  are  often  sepa- 

1  The  Rev.  Conrad  Sprengel,  who  assigned  such   a   marvellous   part  in   the 
fecundation   of  plants    to  insects,  in  the  excess  of  his  enthusiasm  called  them 
Nature's  gardeners.     The  proof  that  the  sterility  of  the  Aromatic  Vanilla  (Fa- 
nilla  aromatica,  Linn.)  in  our  greenhouses  is  owing  to  the  imperfect  nature  of  the 
fecundation  has  been  given  by  the  experiments  of  M.  Morren,  who  showed  that 
by  placing  the  pollen  itself  upon  the  stigmata  of  the  flowers  fecundation  was  ar- 
tificially produced,  and  that  plants  were  thus  soon  obtained  which  for  beauty  and 
aroma  might  rival  those   produced  by  America.     On  the  other  hand,  M.  Brong- 
niart  artificially  fecundated  the  Strelitzia  regina,  which,  left  to  itself,  is  with  us 
unproductive. 

2  Sometimes  bees,  when  rifling  the  flowers  of  the  Asclepiadaceae  or  Orchises, 
come  out  with  their  heads  and  feet  covered  with  the  anthers  of  these  flowers,  like 
small  clubs.     In  some  cases  so  much  adheres  that  they  cannot  fly.     This  is  the 
affection  which  amateurs  call  the  "club  disorder."     Ch.  Robin,  in  the  beautiful 
plates  of  his  work  on  vegetable  parasites,  gives  figures  of  different  insects  strug- 
gling with  this  inconvenient  burden. 


468  THE    UNIVERSE. 

rated  a  long  way  from  each  other.  In  whirling  about  the 
waves  of  air  uplift  the  pollen,  carry  it  into  the  clouds,  and 
let  it  fall  upon  the  flowers  like  a  fertilizing  dew. 

Science  religiously  preserves  the  history  of  two  palm- 
trees  which  were  born  in  Italy,  and  displayed  a  most  strik- 
ing instance  of  what  we  have  been  stating.  One  of  them 
grew  in  the  vicinity  of  Otranto ;  it  was  a  female  tree,  and 
annually  covered  with  luxuriant  flowers,  yet  it  remained 
constantly  sterile.  Every  season  had  for  a  long  time 
brought  forth  the  same  hopes  of  fertility,  to  be  followed  by 
the  same  blight.  It  may  be  imagined,  then,  how  general 
the  astonishment  was  when  the  palm-tree  of  Otranto  was  at 
last,  after  so  many  delusive  promises,  seen  laden  with  fruit ! 
It  was  then  found  that  another  palm-tree  of  the  same 
species,  but  a  male,  had  for  the  first  time  blossomed  at 
Brindisi.  There  could  be  no  doubt  about  the  matter  ;  the 
wind,  carrying  away  the  pollen  from  the  latter,  had  be- 
sprinkled the  other  with  it,  and  thus  the  breeze  had  borne 
the  life-giving  dust  a  distance  of  fifteen  leagues.  From  this 
time  the  palm-tree  of  Otranto  bore  a  harvest  each  year. 

Flowers  only  celebrate  their  chaste  union  in  broad  day- 
light. They  require  for  it  waves  of  air  and  light,  and  in 
order  to  plunge  into  these  we  frequently  see  them  perform 
the  most  unexpected  feats. 

Aquatic  plants  are  principally  remarkable  in  this  respect. 
The  task  itself  seems  to  be  chiefly  intrusted  to  the  peduncle. 
In  some  plants  growing  in  the  depths  of  our  marshes  this 
support  lengthens  out,  even  to  an  immense  extent  if  nec- 
essary, so  as  to  raise  the  flower  above  the  surface  of  the 
water.  This  is  frequently  seen  in  the  magnificent  water- 


203.  Nuptials  of  the  Common  Utricularia:    Utricularia  vulyarit  (Liunjeus). 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  471 

lilies  (Nymphcea  alba,  Linn.)  which  ornament  our  ponds  so 
splendidly  with  their  virgin  corollas.  When  the  plant 
grows  at  the  edge  and  is  quite  dry,  its  peduncles  are  only 
an  inch  or  two  long;  whilst,  when  it  is  planted  in  deep 
water,  these  organs  stretch  out  three  or  four  feet,  in  order 
that  the  flowers  may  expand  upon  the  surface  of  the  wave. 

When  incapable  of  executing  such  manoeuvres,  these 
plants  make  use  of  some  equivalent  proceeding  instead. 
This  was  observed  by  Ramond  in  a  Water  Ranunculus 
(water  crow-foot,  or  Ranunculus  aquatilis,  Linn.)  which  he 
met  with  in  the  Pyrenees.  Placed  in  deep  water,  and  not 
being  able  to  bring  its  flowers  into  contact  with  the  atmos- 
phere, the  plant  supplied  this  want  by  an  ingenious  means. 
Each  corolla  had  secreted  a  large  bubble  of  air,  which  en- 
tirely enveloped  it  in  such  a  manner  that,  though  beneath 
the  water,  fecundation  was  accomplished  just  as  if  the  floral 
apparatus  had  not  been  submerged  at  all. 

But  of  all  plants  the  fecundation  of  the  Vallisneria  spi- 
ralis  has  acquired  the  most  celebrity.  This  dioecious  plant 
lives  in  the  rivers  of  the  south  of  France.  Its  female 
flowers,  attached  to  peduncles  twisted  spirally,  expand  upon 
the  surface  of  the  water,  all  the  movements  of  which  they 
follow.  Like  a  spring,  their  spiral  lengthens  when  the 
water  rises,  and  shortens  when  it  falls.  The  male  flowers, 
not  being  provided  with  this  elastic  apparatus,  find  them- 
selves chained  to  the  foot  of  the  plant  at  the  bottom  of  the 
water.  How  are  the  wedded  pair  to  become. united?  Na- 
ture has  foreseen  all.  When  the  moment  has  arrived  the 
peduncles  of  the  male  flowers  break  ;  these  mount  to  the 
surface  of  the  water,  spread  out  and  form  a  numerous  cor- 


472  THE    UNIVERSE. 

tege,  floating  around  the  females.  Thus  is  the  wedding  of 
the  Vallisneria  accomplished,  and  the  intent  of  this  curious 
scene  is  so  clearly  marked  out  that  so  soon  as  the  act  is 
over  the  fecundated  flowers  shorten  their  spirals,  and  sink 
beneath  the  water  to  ripen  their  fruit. 

Our  marshes  nourish  a  still  more  curious  plant,  the  Utri- 
cularia,  doubly  remarkable  for  its  singular  look  and  for  its 
mode  of  ascent.  Yet  its  fecundation  is  far  from  having  ac- 
quired the  celebrity  of  that  of  the  Vallisneria,  poetry  not 
having  appropriated  it  as  it  has  done  with  the  other.  This 
plant  at  the  bottom  of  the  water  looks  like  a  confused  mass 
of  fibres.  When  we  withdraw  it  and  inspect  it,  we  observe 
that  its  capillary  ramifications  present  here  and  there  little 
vesicular  leaves,  representing  so  many  utricles  in  miniature, 
the  gaping  mouths  of  which  seem  to  be  guarded  by  two 
prominent  filaments.  So  long  as  the  Utricularia  is  only 
occupied  in  providing  for  its  own  subsistence,  these  vesicles 
remain  filled  with  a  mucous  fluid,  by  the  weight  of  which 
they  are  overloaded  ;  and  the  plant,  borne  down  in  this 
way,  rests  supported  on  the  bottom  of  the  pond,  to  which, 
however,  it  in  no  way  adheres. 

But  later  on,  when  the  period  of  flowering  arrives,  the 
vesicles  absorb  the  mucus  which  filled  them,  and  replace  it 
with  an  aeriform  fluid.  Then  the  plant,  having  become 
lighter  than  the  water,  escapes  from  the  bottom  and  rises 
to  the  surface,  where  it  floats,  and  where  its  pretty  golden 
yellow  flowers  are  expanded  and  fecundated. 

After  this,  by  an  unexpected  reflex  action,  and  when  the 
torches  of  Hymen  are  scarcely  extinguished,  the  vesicles  ex- 
pel the  gas  which  they  contain,  and  fill  anew  with  weighty 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  473 

mucus.  At  this  last  moment  the  Utricularia  falls  again  to 
the  depths  of  the  marsh,  where  the  spouses  expire  in  the 
act  of  ripening  their  fruits. 

A  more  robust  plant,  the  Aldrovanda,  which  grows  in  the 
lakes  of  Italy,  attains  the  same  end,  but  by  a  method  less 


204.  Branch  of  the  Utricularia  laden  with  its  Hydrostatic  Vesicular  Leaves. 

ingenious,  and  marked,  so  to  speak,  by  a  certain  degree  of 
coarseness.  It  lives  at  the  bottom  of  the  water,  but  when 
the  hour  of  fecundation  has  struck,  its  large  stem  breaks 
short  off  close  to  the  root,  and  all  at  once  it  rises  to  float  on 
the  surface  of  the  waves. 

Thus  by  different  ways  does  Nature  arrive  at  the  same 
ends. 


BOOK  III. 


THE   SEED  AND  GERMINATION. 

THE  seed  is  really  only  a  vegetable  egg,  and  Linnaeus, 
when  lie  gave  it  this  name  in  his  botanical  philosophy,  al- 
ready perceived  all  the  analogies  between  the  two. 

When  these  analogies  are  compared  we  see  that  the  ad- 
vantage is  on  the  side  of  the  plant,  and  that  its  egg  is  ele- 
vated to  a  higher  state  of  organic  development  than  that  of 
the  bird.  In  the  latter  it  is  with  difficulty  that  we  perceive 
the  germ  of  the  new  being  that  is  to  issue  from  it,  whilst, 
when  we  separate  the  coverings  and  membranes  of  the  seed 
of  the  plant,  we  see  the  embryo  already  formed.  We  distin- 
guish in  it,  even  with  the  naked  eye,  the  little  root,  the 
stem,  and  the  delicate  leaves ;  everything  is  there  ;  it  is 
nothing  but  a  young  plant  slumbering  in  its  cradle.  In 
many  seeds  we  can  even  discern  the  cords  by  which  the  lit- 
tle one  clings  to  the  mammae  which  are  to  nourish  it. 

The  young  stalk  of  the  wheat  exists  already  in  the  grain 
which  we  eat ;  the  little  palm-tree,  as  stiff  as  the  vertical, 
stem  which  it  is  about  to  produce,  is  also  seen  in  the  cocoa- 
nut  ;  while  the  embryo  of  the  bean,  bent  upon  itself,  re- 
veals the  tendency  which  its  stem  has  to  curl  itself  round 
everything  that  finds  itself  in  its  way. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  475 

The  seed,  essentially  a  rudimentary  organ,  like  the  egg 
of  the  animals  shows  itself  almost  constantly  in  an  element- 
ary form  :  it  is  generally  globular,  ovoid,  or  kidney-shaped ; 
rarely  angular. 

Some  seeds  are  so  small  that  they  are  absolutely  invisible 
without  the  aid  of  the  microscope,  as,  for  instance,  those  of 
the  Fungi ;  whilst  others,  like  the  Cocos  ( Cocos  nucifera, 
Linn.)  of  the  Maldive  Islands,  reach  the  size  of  a  man's 
body. 

Some  only  preserve  their  germinative  faculty  for  a  few 
hours  ;  if  they  are  not  sown  at  the  moment  when  the  plant 
offers  them  at  maturity,  as  it  were,  they  constantly  abort. 
Others,  on  the  contrary,  preserve  their  latent  life  through 
many  ages,  —  sheltered  in  our  monuments  or  buried  in  an 
unpropitious  soil.  After  such  a  long  sleep,  perchance  of 
many  thousands  of  years,  if  they  are  placed  in  a  favorable 
spot,  they  germinate,  to  our  great  astonishment. 

Two  parts  are  to  be  distinguished  in  the  seed :  the  integ- 
ument and  the  kernel. 

The  integument,  or  envelope,  generally  presents  a  coria- 
ceous substance ;  sometimes,  however,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
pomegranate,  it  is  only  formed  by  a  watery  layer.  Its  sur- 
face, usually  smooth,  is  sometimes  wrinkled,  hairy,  or  finely 
honey-combed. 

In  one  region  of  it  we  see  the  trace  of  the  spot  where 
the  cord  adhered  which  attached  the  grain  to  the  mother 
plant,  and  transmitted  its  nutritive  juices  to  it.  This  im- 
print bears  the  name  of  umbilicus. 

The  kernel  is  formed  of  the  embryo,  a  true  plant  in 
miniature,  surrounded  by  parts  which  are  to  aid  in  its*  evo- 
lution. 


476  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Among  these  the  cotyledons  occupy  the  first  place.  They 
are  usually  fleshy,  sometimes  foliaceous,  organs  which  pre- 
pare for  the  little  plant,  issuing  from  the  egg,  nourishment 
appropriate  to  its  delicacy  till  it  can  itself  take  up  its  food 
from  the  soil.  There  are  usually  only  one  or  two. 

When  the  cotyledons  are  little  developed  their  alimentary 
function  is  intrusted  to  another  organ,  the  perisperm.  This, 
which  Gartner  compared  very  rightly  to  the  albumen  of 
the  egg,  varies  a  good  deal  as  to  its  volume  and  consistence. 
In  the  cocoa-palm  it  is  in  part  milky.  Our  bread  is  made 
from  the  farinaceous  perisperm  of  the  wheat ;  our  coffee  is 
only  the  same  part  from  the  horny  seed  of  the  coffee-tree 
of  Arabia. 

Plants  are  known,  the  perisperm  of  which  is  of  a  firm- 
ness much  surpassing  that  of  the  coffee-tree.  Such  is  the 
case  with  the  seeds  of  the  Corozo,  in  which  this  structure  is 
as  white  and  hard  as  ivory  ;  owing  to  this  fact  different  ob- 
jects are  made  from  it  in  trade  which  are  put  forward  as 
being  fabricated  from  this  substance.  This  peculiarity  has 
procured  for  the  Corozo  palm  the  name  of  the  elephant-plant 
(Phytelephas),  and  for  its  fruit,  cargoes  of  which  are  brought 
to  France,  that  of  vegetable  ivory. 

It  was  Leuwenhoeck  who  first  of  all  noticed  that  the  seed 
contains  the  young  plant  in  miniature,  traced  out  in  the 
midst  of  its  envelopes,  and  only  waiting  for  favoring  cir- 
cumstances to  expand  its  leaves  and  flowers.  Thus,  look- 
ing philosophically  at  the  subject,  we  may  say  that  certain 
plants  are  viviparous.  There  are  even  some  in  which  the 
impatience  of  the  embryo  is  so  great  that,  in  order  to  reach 
the  air  and  light  more  quickly,  it  precipitately  escapes  from 
its  egg  while  this  still  adheres  to  the  mother. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


479 


This  peculiarity  is  seen  in  the  mangroves  (Rhizophora 
gymnorrhiza,  Linn.),  strange  plants,  half  tree,  half  fish,  living 
half  plunged  in  the  sea  or  the  lagoons  of  tropical  America 
and  India.  Suspended  above  the  water  by  their  bent 
branches,  often  quite  covered  with  oysters,  these  trees  let 
drop  through  their  foliage  long  roots  of  embryos  which 
have  germinated  in  the  fruit.  These,  perfectly  adapted  to 
the  work  they  have  before  them,  are  like  little  pointed 
clubs,  and  have  attained  a  length  of  from  ten  to  fourteen 
inches  at  the  time  when  they  are  to  fall  into  the  water ; 


206.  Germination  of  an  Arundo  Indica. 

so  that  they  sink  deep  into  the  mud  which  encircles  the 
mother  plant,  and  form  a  family  group  around  her. 

Germination,  which  is  really  vegetable  suckling,  is  only 
the  development  of  the  embryo  up  to  the  fall  of  the  coty- 
ledons. 

This  act  is  almost  always  accomplished  in  the  ground ;  it 
is  only  aquatic  plants  which  effect  it  under  water.  Some 
parasites,  however,  germinate  on  the  plants  or  animals  on 
the  surface  of  which  we  find  them.  This  occurs  in  the 
microscopic  Fungi  which  attack  our  hair  and  beard,  and 


480  THE    UNIVERSE. 

bring  on  most  harassing  diseases,  tetters,  tinese,  etc.,  as  the 
labors  of  the  microscopists  of  our  day  have  placed  beyond  a 
doubt.  Similar  to  these  are  certain  parasitic  plants,  which 
are  never  found  except  upon  certain  insects. 

At  other  times  germination  takes  place  under  very  strange 
conditions.  Vandermonde  saw  children  in  whose  noses  peas 
had  germinated  from  having  been  imprudently  introduced. 
Another  physician,  Brera,  mentions  having  opened  the  body 
of  a  soldier  whose  stomach  was  filled  with  barley  which  was 
developing  itself  there. 

There  are  two  classes  of  actions  to  be  considered  in  ger- 
mination, namely,  physiological  phenomena,  and  chemical 
phenomena. 

Let  us  first  of  all  examine  the  former ;  we  can  discuss  the 
others  farther  on.  So  soon  as  ever  the  seed  is  confided  to 
the  earth  it  imbibes  water  and  swells.  Soon  afterwards  the 
integument  tears  irregularly,  and  the  young  plant  appears 
outside.  Sometimes,  however,  this  act  is  effected  symmet- 
rically. The  seed  presents  a  kind  of  lid,  or  little  door,  which 
the  young  plant  opens  by  pushing  it  so  as  to  direct  itself 
towards  the  soil,  as  we  see  in  the  Indian  reeds.  After  that 
the  root  sinks  downwards  and  the  stem  shoots  up  towards 
the  light. 

This  double  phenomenon  has  occupied  physiologists  a 
great  deal.  At  first  the  direction  of  the  roots  was  attributed 
to  the  humidity  of  the  ground,  or  to  its  chemical  composi- 
tion. But  Duhamel  having  noticed  that  young  roots  did 
not  sink  into  wet  sponges  between  which  seeds  had  been 
made  to  germinate,  and  Dutrochet  having  remarked  that 
seeds  suspended  in  boxes  filled  with  earth  left  them  in 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  481 

order  to  penetrate  more  deeply,  it  became  necessary  to  re- 
nounce these  two  hypotheses. 

Knight  and  Dutrochet,  seeing  that  when  seeds  are  made 
to  grow  in  the  buckets  of  a  wheel  set  in  motion  by  mecha- 
nism the  rootlets  always  tend  outwards  and  the  stems  in- 
wards, concluded  that  the  divergence  of  these  organs  was 
owing  to  the  influence  of  terrestrial  gravitation. 

It  was  also  thought  that  the  direction  of  the  roots  was 
due  to  their  trying  to  escape  the  light,  but  by  means  of 
experiments,  in  which  suspended  plants  were  lighted  from 
below,  it  was  ascertained  that  these  organs  directed  them- 
selves towards  the  light.  Hence  this  hypothesis  really  ex- 
plains the  cause  of  the  direction  which  plants  take  no  bet- 
ter than  the  others.1 

In  proportion  as  the  embryo  is  developed,  the  cotyledons, 
as  Malpighi  remarked,  become  filled  with  vessels,  the  office 
of  which  is  to  secrete  the  first  nutritive  fluids  of  the  young 
plant;  for  this  could  only  find  in  the  ground  food  too  active 
or  too  coarse  for  its  yet  undeveloped  tissues.  Then,  when 
these  vegetable  mammae,  as  Bonnet  called  them,  have  ac- 
complished their  function,  and  when  the  roots  are  vigorous 
enough  to  nourish  themselves,  the  part  of  these  organs  be- 
ing played  out,  they  fade  and  fall. 

Such  is  the  last  phase  in  the  evolution  of  the  young 
plant. 

At  the  same  time  that  these  different  vital  actions  are 
carried  on,  the  germination  is  the  theatre  of  important 

1  M.  Blondeau,  in  a  memoir  read  before  the  French  Academy,  stated  that 
exposure  of  some  seeds  to  an  induced  electric  current  has  the  effect  of  making 
the  stem  and  leaves  grow  down  into  the  earth,  while  the  roots  come  up  and  take 
their  place.  — TR. 


482  THE   UNIVERSE. 

chemical  phenomena.  For  its  accomplishment  it  imperi- 
ously demands  a  certain  amount  of  warmth,  water,  and  air. 
If  one  of  these  factors  be  wanting,  this  first  manifestation 
of  life  becomes  an  impossibility.  At  the  temperature  of 
zero  all  vegetation  ceases. 

When  cold  fastens  upon  seeds  it  preserves  them  for  an 
indefinite  period  of  time,  just  as  it  preserved  the  com- 
panions of  Bilbao,  the  discoverer  of  the  South  Sea,  whose 
corpses  were  recently  found  in  the  snows  of  the  Cordilleras ; 
and  as  it  preserved  the  remains  of  the  antediluvian  ele- 
phants and  rhinoceroses,  the  skeletons  of  which,  still  envel- 
oped in  their  flesh,  were  discovered  in  the  ices  of  Siberia. 

The  course  taken  by  the  water,  which  is  to  soak  into  the 
grain  and  prepare  the  way  for  its  evolution,  is  not  always 
the  same. 

In  seeds  which  have  a  coriaceous  husk,  not  easily  per- 
meable by  moisture,  the  liquid  enters  by  the  umbilicus. 
Poncelet  and  De  Candolle  proved  that  all  the  outer  surface 
of  these  seeds  might  be  covered  with  wax,  and  yet  that 
would  not  prevent  them  from  germinating  if  the  precaution 
were  taken  of  not  covering  the  umbilical  cicatrix. 

In  seeds  the  skin  of  which  is  soft  and  easily  imbibes 
water,  such  as  those  of  the  haricot  bean,  for  instance,  it  is 
this  structure  that  principally  gives  access  to  the  water 
which  is  so  indispensably  necessary  to  primordial  life. 

The  air  also  plays  a  great  part  in  the  chemical  phenom- 
ena of  germination.  The  learned  Homberg  denied  the  im- 
portance of  it,  because  he  saw  seeds  develop  in  the  re- 
ceiver of  his  pneumatic  machine.  But  Boyle,  Muschen- 
broeck,  and  Boerhaave  demonstrated  that  this  agent  is  ab- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


483 


solutely  necessary  to  vegetable  evolution,  and  that  if  the 
great  chemist  stated  the  contrary  it  could  only  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  defective  construction  of  his  instruments,  which 
enabled  him  to  obtain  but  a  very  imperfect  vacuum. 

All  the  air,  however,  is  not  employed  in  the  first  phase 


207.  Roots  Lighted  from  below  and  directing  themselves  towards  the  Light. 

of  vegetable  life  ;  of  its  two  principal  elements  the  oxygen 
is  here  alone  of  service.  It  is  to  the  chemist  Scheele  that 
the  glory  of  this  great  discovery  is  due. 

Some  seeds  only  absorb  a  small  quantity  of  it ;  one  or  two 
thousandths  of  their  weight  is  enough ;  this  is  the  case  with 
wheat.  Others,  such  as  the  haricot  bean,  consume,  accord- 


484  THE    UNIVERSE. 

ing  to  Saussure  and  Woodhouse,  as  much  as  a  hundredth 
part. 

At  the  time  when  seeds  germinate  they  exhale  carbonic 
acid  and  water,  and  set  free  a  noticeable  amount  of  heat. 

Divers  causes  accessorily  hasten  the  evolution  of  the 
plant. 

Electricity  is  one  of  these.  It  was  the  Abbe  Nollet  who 
discovered  its  action.  More  recently  Sir  Humphry  Davy 
and  A.  Becquerel  observed  that  it  is  only  negative  elec- 
tricity that  gives  energy  to  this  phenomenon ;  whilst  posi- 
tive electricity,  on  the  contrary,  retards  it. 

Indeed,  if  we  pass  an  electric  current  beneath  a  sown 
surface,  the  seeds  develop  much  more  quickly  than  in  a  part 
which  has  not  been  submitted  to  electricity. 

The  difference  is  well  marked  when  we  experiment  with 
seeds  which  germinate  very  quickly.  One  patch  will  be 
covered  with  close  green  vegetation,  while  on  the  other  not 
a  single  plant  has  yet  issued  from  the  ground. 

Following  Ingenhouz  and  Sennebier,  men  have  long 
taught  that  light  was  opposed  to  germination.  This  is  an 
error,  as  Saussure  noticed.  Nevertheless,  all  the  colored 
rays  of  light  are  not  favorable  to  it ;  the  chemical  and  the 
calorific  rays  have  each  an  opposite  action  upon  this  phe- 
nomenon. The  former,  which  are  the  blue  and  the  violet 
rays,  clearly  increase  its  activity ;  the  latter,  the  red  and 
yellow  rays,  are  hurtful  to  it.1 

1  With  regard  to  the  action  of  light,  the  balance  of  evidence  seems  to  be  in 
favor  of  the  opinion  expressed  by  Mr.  Hunt,  which  is  very  much  to  the  same  ef- 
fect, namely,  that  the  blue  rays  promote  germination,  while  the  yellow  light-giv- 
ing rays  impede  it.  —  Popular  Science  Review.  —  TR. 


THE,    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  485 

A  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  conditions  demanded  by 
vegetation  explains  certain  phenomena  which  have  occa- 
sionally astonished  the  vulgar.  When  these  conditions  are 
wanting,  seeds  are  often  preserved  torpid  for  a  long  time  in 
the  place  which  incloses  them,  and  then,  when  they  find 
themselves  under  the  influence  of  favorable  circumstances, 
they  cover  a  site  with  a  form  of  vegetation  unknown  there 
within  the  memory  of  man. 

Thus,  according  to  the  account  of  Ray,  after  the  great 
fire  of  London,  the  hedge-mustard  (Slsymbrium  /Ho)  all  at 
once  grew  thickly  on  the  ruins  of  this  city,  where  previously 
it  was  unknown.  When  certain  forests  are  burned  we  see 
plants  spring  from  their  soil  which  were  never  previously 
known  there.  Analagous  facts  have  been  noticed  after  old 
marshes  have  been  dried  up.  Their  beds,  laid  bare,  are 
sometimes  covered  with  an  entirely  new  form  of  vegeta- 
tion, quite  unknown  in  the  country,  and  arising  doubtless 
from  seeds  having  been  buried  under  the  water  and  pre- 
served there  till,  having  been  exposed  to  the  air,  all  the 
conditions  necessary  to  germination,  which  were  previously 
wanting,  were  now  brought  to  bear  upon  them.1 

1  Thompson's  weed  (Lepidium  Draba),  a  plant  which  gives  much  annoyance  to 
agriculturists,  appears  to  have  been  introduced  in  the  straw  of  the  beds  brought 
back  from  the  disastrous  expedition  to  Walcheren.  The  troops  being  disem- 
barked at  Ramsgate,  the  beds  were  ripped  up  and  the  straw  thrown  into  an  old 
chalk-pit  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Thompson.  It  was  subsequently  used  as  manure, 
and  wherever  this  manure  was  laid  down  a  plentiful  crop  of  the  new  weed  was 
the  result.  This  weed  has  now  spread  over  a  great  part  of  Kent.  —  Popular  Sci- 
ence Revieiv,  vol.  v.,  p.  492.  —  TR. 


BOOK  IV. 

EXTREMES  IN  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   LICHEN   ROCK  AND    THE   VIRGIN   FOREST. 

THE  vegetable  kingdom  is  the  emblem  of  diversity  in 
harmony.  While  its  extreme  limits  offer  the  most  manifest 
contrasts,  everything  still  is  chained  and  bound  together  by 
imperceptible  links,  and  bears  evidence  of  the  divine  wis- 
dom which  presided  over  its  distribution.  In  certain  fami- 
lies force  and  majesty  predominate  ;  others  attract  atten- 
tion by  the  delicacy  of  their  forms  or  the  charm  of  their 
beauty.  On  one  side  are  seen  robust  forms,  sculptured 
by  the  hand  of  giants ;  on  the  other  delicate  outlines  traced 
by  the  fingers  of  fairies. 

What  an  astonishing  contrast  between  this  palm-tree,  the 
crown  of  which  daringly  rends  the  clouds  as  it  waves  above 
the  tropical  forest,  and  this  gray  lichen,  a  thin  layer  of  col- 
ored matter  staining  our  statues  and  walls  !  What  infinite 
variety,  what  a  series  of  gradations,  from  the  splendid  flower 
of  the  Victoria  regia  to  the  imperceptible  corolla  of  the 
nettle ;  from  those  indestructible  plants  which  grew  on  the 
warm  mud  of  our  new-born  globe  to  the  ephemeral  organ- 


208.  Forest  of  Palm-Trees  on  the  Banks  of  the  Nile :  Phoenix  dactylifera  (Linnaeus)- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  489 

isms  which  die  as  they  issue  from  the  earth  ;  from  the  wood 
which  is  substituted  for  iron  to  the  gelatinous  plant  which 
the  slightest  touch  crushes  !  And  yet,  in  the  midst  of  this 
inextricable  chaos,  science  reveals  to  us  order  and  eternal 
wisdom. 

The  sceptre  of  vegetation  belongs  to  the  oak.  When,  in 
the  depth  of  night,  we  wander  amid  the  sombre  and  stately 
precincts  of  Mount  Etna,  the  imposing  majesty  of  these 
denizens,  centuries  old,  and  the  huge  shadows  of  their  agi- 
tated and  groaning  summits,  fill  us  with  awe  and  terror,  and 
announce  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  king  of  our 
forests.  One  dreads  to  hear  the  plaintive  groans  which 
froze  Dante  with  terror  as  they  issued  from  the  black 
boughs  of  the  Wood  of  Suicides. 

The  palms,  decorated  writh  their  waving  crowns,  are,  in 
the  eyes  of  all,  the  emblem  of  tropical  vegetation.  Poets 
have  often  sung  of  their  magnificence  ;  and  Linnaeus,  im- 
pressed by  their  brilliant  appearance,  decorated  them  with 
the  name  of  "  princes  of  the  vegetable  kingdom." 

But  those  who  travel  in  the  East,  which  the  great  Swed- 
ish botanist  never  did,  find  that  masses  of  palms  are  far 
from  having  the  grand  and  imposing  look  of  our  European 
forests.  They  form  only  a  vista  of  naked  and  monotonous 
columns,  the  leafy  dome  of  which  allows  the  rays  of  the  sun 
to  pass  through  ;  hence  a  popular  saying  of  the  ancients 
tells  us  that  "  no  person  can  travel  with  impunity  beneath 
the  palm-trees."  Explorers  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile  who 
were  really  in  earnest  about  their  work  have  justly  ob- 
served that  the  poets  would  not  have  written  their  idylls  on 
these  trees  if  they  had  found  themselves  beneath  the  date- 
palms  of  Egypt  in  the  hottest  hours  of  the  day. 


490  THE    UNIVERSE. 

There  is  one  solitary  exception,  the  doum-palm  of  the 
Theba'is  (Cucifera  Thebaica,  Martins).  Its  wide -spread 
branches,  terminated  by  numerous  tufts  of  large  leaves,  to 
which  hang  monstrous  bunches  of  fruit,  give  to  its  forests 
a  diversity,  a  picturesqueness,  which  its  congeners  do  not 
partake  of. 

The  palm-tree  really  displays  all  its  splendor  and  its 
strength  only  when  it  shows  itself  in  little  groups,  boldly 
planted  in  the  midst  of  rocks,  the  crowns  of  which,  waving 
in  the  tempest,  seem  only  to  bend  in  order  to  defy  the  fury 
of  the  waves  breaking  tumultuously  at  their  feet. 

The  beauty  of  the  Liliacese,  the  great  flowers  of  which 
are  enamelled  with  the  brightest  colors,  also  charmed  Lin- 
naeus. He  looked  upon  them  as  "  the  nobles  of  Flora's 
empire,"  spreading  forth  their  blazonry  on  the  segments  of 
their  resplendent  corollas. 

Lastly,  according  to  the  legislator  of  botany,  among  the 
numerous  families  of  plants  which  enliven  the  globe,  the 
great  but  humble  family  of  Graminacese  represents  the 
people.  "  They  are,"  he  said,  "  the  plebeians,  the  poor,  the 
peasants,  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  They  form  the  sim- 
plest, the  most  numerous,  and  the  most  sprightly  part  of 
it ;  hence  it  is  in  them  that  power  and  force  reside,  and  the 
more  we  trample  upon  and  maltreat  them,  the  more  do 
they  multiply." 

Fleshy  plants  give  the  strangest  of  aspects  to  equatorial 
landscapes,  as,  for  instance,  in  Mexico,  the  privileged  land  of 
the  cactuses.  It  is  there  that  we  find  growing  in  almost  a 
miraculous  manner  the  gigantic  torch-cactus  ( Cereus  gigan- 
y  Engelm).  One  is  quite  astonished  at  finding  it  upon 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  491 

the  most  sterile  rocks,  where  the  eye  with  difficulty  detects 
a  few  particles  of  earth.  How  can  a  plant  so  bulky,  fleshy, 
and  watery  grow  without  taking  up  anything  from  the 
soil,  and  draw  the  elements  of  nutrition  from  the  burning 
air  around  it  ?  When  this  cactus  is  fully  developed,  it  pre- 
sents the  appearance  of  an  immense  chandelier,  attaining  a 
height  of  as  much  as  sixty  feet,  and  it  is  surprising  to  see 
that  the  tempest  spares  it. 

When  we  pass  from  animals  to  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
we  find  that,  notwithstanding  the  calm  and  silence  which 
here  preside  over  all  the  acts  of  life,  there  is  yet  an  energy, 
a  tenacity,  which  one  would  never  have  suspected.  To  the 
extremes  of  size  are  opposed  incalculable  differences  in 
duration.  No  animal  grows  with  the  prodigious  rapidity 
which  we  see  in  certain  plants,  nor  does  any  attain  the  fab- 
ulous longevity  which  is  the  attribute  of  many  trees. 

One  plant  passes  away  like  the  last  hour  of  the  Ephemera 
which  flutters  in  the  twilight  over  the  banks  of  our  streams ; 
a  ray  of  sunlight  sees  its  birth  and  fall.  Another  defies  the 
power  of  ages ;  the  offspring  of  creation,  it  seems  as  if  it 
ought  only  to  sink  with  the  wreck  of  the  globe. 

Some  of  our  more  common  moulds  pass  in  one  day 
through  all  the  phases  of  life  ;  this  lapse  of  time  is  sufficient 
for  them  to  appear  in,  fructify,  and  die.  But  by  a  singular 
contradiction,  some  plants  of  the  same  class  only  grow  with 
inexplicable  slowness.  One  of  those  lichens,  which  show 
like  plates  of  golden  yellow  on  the  roofs  of  our  houses,  was 
watched  for  forty  years  by  Vaucher,  without  his  seeing  that 
it  increased  to  a  perceptible  extent.  Accordingly,  De  Can- 
dolle  said  that  the  lichens  which  cover  our  rocks  possibly 


492  THE   UNIVERSE. 

go  back  to  the  times  of  the  cataclysms  which  laid  them 
bare  ! 

But  it  is  particularly  in  the  dicotyledonous  plants  that 
longevity  is  so  extraordinary.  Some  of  these  grow  so  slowly 
that  ages  seem  scarcely  to  alter  their  dimensions. 

If  we  look  at  vegetable  life  scattering  its  great  families 
over  the  globe,  we  everywhere  find  the  same  contrasts,  — 
misery  by  the  side  of  grandeur.  The  bare  rock  which  raises 
its  shattered  masses  on  the  mountain  slope  is  only  colored 
with  a  crust  of  lichens  and  mosses,  which  dot  its  surface  like 
so  many  pencil  marks.  Below  these  regions,  where  the  se- 
verity of  the  air  destroys  everything,  we  find  pines  and  oaks 
twisted  and  dwarfed,  while  lower  down  rise  magnificent  and 
sombre  forests  of  Coniferse,  encircling  the  mountains  with 
their  girdle  of  black. 

The  palms  compose  numerous  groups  in  all  the  equatorial 
regions.  But  vegetable  life  reveals  itself  peculiarly  with  all 
its  variety  and  splendor  in  the  immense  virgin  forests  of 
the  tropics,  where  the  axe  has  never  yet  shorn  it  of  its 
exuberance.  Some  present  such  a  profusion  of  aged  trees 
entwined  with  ferns  and  creepers  that  they  are  absolutely 
impenetrable,  unless  some  stream  of  water  happen,  in  its 
winding  course,  to  furnish  the  daring  traveller  with  a  nat- 
ural path. 

The  special  character  of  the  vegetation  in  some  of  these 
forests  gives  them  quite  a  characteristic  aspect.  When  the 
parasitic  orchises  predominate,  they  form  on  every  side  ele- 
gant chandeliers,  as  it  were,  of  verdure  and  flowers  ;  or 
they  hang  here  and  there  in  long  slender  pendants,  looking 
at  a  distance  like  so  many  gigantic  spiders,  displaying  their 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 


493 


mighty  claws  and  balancing  themselves  now  and  then  at 
the  end  of  their  threads. 


209.    Arborescent  Ferns  of  the  Forests  of  New  Zealand. 

Again,  as  in  New  Zealand,  arborescent  ferns,  with  the  as- 
pect of  palms,  give  these  distant  landscapes  an  appearance 
which  is  seen  in  no  other  part. 

The  impenetrable  virgin  forest  alarms  us  by  its  sombre 


494  THE   UNIVERSE. 

and  terrible  aspect.  On  one  side  vigorous  parasites  assail 
the  aged  trees,  forming  with  them  an  inextricable  net-work 
which  the  axe  can  scarcely  cleave,  whilst  all  progress 
through  it  is  impeded  by  bushes  and  tall  herbs,  where  so 
many  redoubtable  enemies  lie  concealed.  During  the  day 
all  is  silent :  the  frightful  heat  paralyzes  the  tenants  of  this 
realm  of  vegetation,  and  sleep  reigns  everywhere.  But 
when  night  arrives  all  becomes  full  of  life  ;  birds,  mammals, 
and  reptiles  declare  war  on  one  another,  and  every  part 
rings  with  groans  and  hoarse  cries  of  pain  and  death. 


CHAPTER  II. 

GIANTS  OF  THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM. 

LIKE  animals,  plants  may  be  infinitely  little  or  infinitely 
huge  ;  the  latter  astonish  us  by  their  colossal  proportions, 
while  the  former  escape  our  ken,  and  are  only  revealed  by 
the  microscope. 

The  study  of  the  development  of  plants  in  respect  to 
their  mere  size  presents  us  with  some  curious  contrasts. 

Some  rudimentary  plants,  such  as  the  Ascophori,  Mould 
Fungi,  which  so  frequently  invade  our  bread,  and  the  As- 
pergilli,  which  we  often  see  forming  in  the  fluids  we  drink, 
glairy,  repulsive-looking  films,  possess  an  almost  invisible 
stalk.  Woody  plants,  on  the  contrary,  often  astonish  us  by 
the  enormous  dimensions  of  this  part. 

The  old  authors  who  describe  Germany  tell  us  that  there 
were  trees  there,  from  the  trunk  of  one  of  which  boats  were 
made  which  carried  as  many  as  thirty  men. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  495 

From  the  times  of  antiquity  the  luxuriant  growth  of  the 
plane-trees  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Black 
Sea  has  been  the  subject  of  remark,  and  the  botanists  of  our 
day  have  proved  that  what  our  forefathers  said  was  in  no 
way  exaggerated. 

Men  were  almost  inclined  to  disbelieve  the  account  of 
Pliny,  who  states  that  in  his  time  there  was  in  Lycia  a  stout 
thriving  plane-tree,  in  the  trunk  of  which  was  seen  a  vast 
grotto  eighty-one  feet  in  circumference,  the  whole  extent 
of  which  had  been  tapestried  by  nature  with  a  green  and 
velvety  hanging  of  moss.  Licinius  Mutianus,  governor  of 
the  province,  charmed  with  the  delicious  coolness  of  this 
rural  hall,  gave  a  supper  in  it  to  eighteen  guests  from  his 
suite.  After  the  orgy  they  transformed  the  scene  of  their 
festivity  into  a  dormitory,  and  comfortably  passed  the  night 
there. 

This  fact  has  been  fully  confirmed  by  modern  travellers. 
De  Candolle  relates  that,  according  to  one  of  them,  there 
still  exists  in  the  neighborhood  of  Constantinople  an  enor- 
mous lime-tree,  the  trunk  of  which  is  quite  as  ample  as  that 
of  which  we  have  been  speaking.  It  is  150  feet  in  circum- 
ference, and  also  presents  a  cavity  eighty  feet  in  circuit. 

Ray,  the  celebrated  English  botanist  and  geologist,  speaks 
of  an  oak,  existing  in  his  time  in  Germany,  which  was  of 
such  dimensions  that  it  had  been  transformed  into  a  citadel. 
To  confine  ourselves  more  strictly  to  the  truth,  let  us  just 
say  that  its  interior  served  as  a  guard-house.  We  may  here 
mention  another  tree  of  the  same  kind,  still  growing  in  Nor- 
mandy, and  which,  in  contrast  to  the  other,  has  been  conse- 
crated to  piety.  This  is  the  chapel-oak  of  Allouville,  in 


496  THE  UNIVERSE. 

which  there  is  an  altar  dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  where,  on 
certain  days,  mass  is  said.  The  ample  hollow  of  this  tree 
not  only  furnishes  an  oratory,  but  above  this  a  sleeping- 
room  has  been  scooped  out ;  there  is  a  bed  in  this  room,  to 
which  access  is  gained  by  steps  outside ;  it  is  the  abode  of 
an  anchorite.  This  tree,  which  perhaps  sheltered  in  its 
shade  the  companions  of  the  Seigneur  de  Bethencourt, 
when  on  their  way  to  embark  for  the  conquest  of  the 
Canaries,  is  held  in  great  veneration  in  the  country. 

One  of  our  most  illustrious  and  philosophic  botanists, 
Marquis,  renowned  alike  for  his  eminent  position  and 
knowledge,  measured  the  trunk  of  this  tree,  and  found 
that  it  was  thirty  feet  in  circumference  near  the  ground. 

I  have  also  seen  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus  plane- 
trees,  the  trunks  of  which  were  pierced  with  enormous  cav- 
ities. In  the  neighborhood  of  Smyrna  there  is  one  of  these 
trees  celebrated  for  its  size  and  antiquity.  The  stem,  which 
is  hollowed  right  through,  is  spread  widely  out  at  the  base, 
and  represents  three  columns,  which  converge  towards  each 
other,  forming  a  sort  of  porch,  beneath  which  a  man  on 
horseback  can  pass  easily.1 

Yet  the  baobab  on  the  banks  of  the  Niger,  in  its  splendid 
luxuriance  of  growth,  surpasses  even  all  the  giants  of  the 
Bosphorus.  It  is  especially  remarkable  for  its  thickness, 
contrasted  with  its  want  of  height.  It  is  a  colossus  of  un- 
graceful look.  Almost  always  without  leaves,  bearing  them 
only  in  the  rainy  season,  its  whitish,  conical  trunk,  scarcely 

1  In  their  learned  work  on  forests,  Evelyn  and  Loudon  have  represented  sev- 
eral other  trees,  which,  like  the  Platanus  of  Smyrna,  present  openings  through 
which  a  knight  completely  equipped  could  pass  freely. — Evelyn,  Sylva,  1664. 
Loudon,  Arboretum  Britannicum,  London,  1838. 


f 
9 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  499 

fifteen  to  twenty  feet  in  height,  is  more  than  a  hundred  feet 
in  circumference  at  the  level  of  the  ground.  This  short  and 
robust  support  is  necessary  to  sustain  its  incredibly  large 
dome  of  leaves,  the  bulk  of  which  is  sometimes  so  great 
that,  seen  from  a  distance,  the  baobab  looks  rather  like  a 
small  forest  than  a  single  tree.  Its  large  branches  are  fifty 
to  sixty  feet  long.  When  time  has  hollowed  out  the  stem 
of  one  of  these  noble  trees,  the  negroes  make  use  of  the 
cavity.  Sometimes  they  turn  it  into  a  place  of  amusement, 
a  rustic  retreat  where  they  can  smoke  their  chibouques  and 
take  refreshment ;  at  other  times  they  convert  it  into  a 
prison.  One  of  these  is  known  of  which  the  Senegambians 
have  converted  the  interior  into  a  council-hall  ;  the  en- 
trance is  covered  with  sculptures  which  point  out  the  high 
destination  reserved  for  it. 

But  the  marvel  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  respect  to  its 
colossal  dimensions  is  assuredly  the  famous  chestnut-tree 
growing  on  the  lower  slopes  of  Etna.  Count  Borch,  who 
measured  the  trunk  very  exactly,  accords  it  a  circumfer- 
ence of  190  feet.  A  house  which  shelters  a  shepherd  and 
his  flock  has  been  built  in  the  immense  hollow  of  its  trunk. 
During  the  winter  the  wood  of  the  tree  serves  the  inhabi- 
tant of  this  solitary  retreat  for  fuel,  and  its  abundance  of 
fruit  supplies  him  with  food  during  the  summer. 

This  colossus  of  our  forests,  which  is  called  the  "  Chest- 
nut of  a  Hundred  Horses,'*  owes  its  name  to  the  vast  extent 
of  its  foliage.  The  inhabitants  of  the  country  told  the 
painter,  J.  Houel,  "  that  Jeanne  of  Aragon,  when  travelling 
from  Spain  to  Naples,  stopped  at  Sicily,  and,  accompanied 
by  all  the  nobility  of  Catania,  paid  a  visit  to  Mount  Etna. 


500  THE   UNIVERSE. 

She  was  on  horseback,  as  were  also  her  suite,  and,  a  storm 
having  come  on,  she  took  shelter  under  this  tree,  the  vast 
foliage  of  which  sufficed  to  protect  the  queen  and  all  her 
cavaliers  from  the  rain.  It  is  from  this  memorable  adven- 
ture, they  add,  that  the  old  tree  took  the  name  of  Chest- 
nut of  a  Hundred  Horses."  l 

Yet,  whatever  astonishment  we  may  feel  at  the  extraordi- 
nary dimensions  attained  by  the  trunks  of  certain  trees,  the 
height  to  which  others  reach  strikes  us  still  more  than  their 
growth  in  diameter.  The  king  of  our  forests,  the  oak, 
which  poetic  fiction  looks  upon  as  the  emblem  of  passive 
force,  rears  its  crown  of  leaves  one  hundred  feet  above  the 
soil. 

In  the  East  the  imposing  remains  of  the  ancient  forest 
employed  in  building  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon,  the  object  of  so  much  veneration,  and  which  the 
pilgrim  only  approaches  with  the  sounds  of  a  hymn  on  his 
lips,  spread  forth  their  dark  sheets  of  verdure  to  a  height  of 
150  feet  above  the  mountain. 

1  The  celebrated  journey  of  Jeanne  of  Aragon  to  the  Castagno  di  Cento  Ca- 
valli,  as  the  chestnut-tree  of  Etna  is  called  in  Sicily,  is  only  a  fable.  Count  Borch 
maintains  that  it  owes  its  name  merely  to  the  fact  that  fifty  horses  could  be  placed* 
within  its  trunk  and  fifty  round  about  it.  Some  botanists,  however,  think  that 
this  colossal  tree  is  only  a  fusion  of  several  individuals  of  the  same  species.  But 
this  is  scarcely  probable;  the  vicinity  presents  several  specimens  which  are  almost 
as  vast,  and  which,  for  that  reason,  are  known  by  distinct  names  in  the  country. 
Count  Borch,  who  has  carefully  examined  the  Hundred-Horse  Chestnut,  says 
that  at  the  first  look  one  might  think  it  arose  from  the  junction  of  several  trunks, 
but  that  when  it  is  attentively  studied  we  find  that  it  -is  only  one  tree.  This  fact 
has  been  placed  beyond  doubt  by  the  Canon  Recupero,  who  had  it  dug  round,  and 
saw  that  the  five  trunks  end  in  one  single  colossal  root.  —  Borch,  Lettres  sur  la 
Sidle,  Turin,  1782,  t.  i.,  p.  121. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  503 

Supported  only  by  its  flexible  column,  which  yields  and 
bends  beneath  the  force  of  the  tempest,  the  wax-palm  on 
the  Andes  balances  its  waving  crown  in  the  bosom  of  the 
clouds  200  feet  above  the  heights  whereon  it  grows. 

But  no  tree  rears  its  head  towards  the  sky  so  boldly  as 
the  gigantic  cedar  of  California,  the  Welling tonia  gigantea. 
One  colossus  of  this  species,  now  hurled  down  and  stretched 
upon  the  rock,  presented,  when  it  stood  erect  and  threaten- 
ing, a  height  of  more  than  490  feet ;  that  is  to  say,  about 
eight  times  the  elevation  of  a  house  of  five  stories.  It  was 
above  130  feet  in  circumference. 

The  bark  of  the  trunk  of  one  of  these  giants  of  the  Amer- 
ican forests  was  transported  in  part  to  the  Crystal  Palace  at 
Sydenham,  where  it  formed  one  of  the  most  splendid  curi- 
osities, until  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire  in  1866.  It  was 
a  monstrous  column,  above  130  feet  in  height,  and  which  at 
the  level  of  the  ground  had  a  diameter  of  nearly  thirty-four 
feet.  I  stood  inside  this  tree  along  with  fifteen  people.  At 
San  Francisco  a  piano  was  placed  and  a  ball  given  to  more 
than  twenty  persons  on  the  stump  of  a  Wellingtonia 
which  had  been  brought  thither.  The  age  of  this  colossus 
corresponds  to  its  dimensions.  By  counting  the  number  of 
annual  rings  in  a  transverse  section  it  was  ascertained  that 
these  monstrous  trees  must  be  3000  or  4000  years  old,  so 
that  they  seem  to  have  been  almost  contemporary  with  the 
biblical  creation,  and  have  stood  erect  and  unshaken  amidst 
all  the  commotions  of  the  globe. 

Alongside  of  these  giants,  stretched  prostrate  on  the 
ground,  man  only  looks  like  a  pigmy,  and  feels  his  littleness. 
He  calls  them  the  mammoths  of  the  forest,  to  show  that, 


504  THE   UNIVERSE. 

like  those  frightful  animals  which  surpassed  all  others  in 
their  size,  they  tower  above  all  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
One  of  these  cedars,  hollowed  out  into  a  deep  cavern,  owes 
its  name  of  "  the  Riding  School  "  to  the  fact  that  a  man  on 
horseback  can  penetrate  sixty-five  feet  into  the  dark  exca- 
vation. 

However,  these  prodigies  of  vegetation  do  not  seem  to  be 
the  supreme  manifestation  of  creative  power.  In  penetrat- 
ing into  regions  of  Australia  previously  quite  unknown,  some 
gold-seekers  have  just  discovered  Eucalypti  that  surpass 
in  size  even  the  Wellingtonia  giganlea.  Ferdinand  Miiller, 
the  botanist,  says  that  trees  of  the  species  Eucalyptus  amyg- 
dalina,  480  feet  in  length,  were  met  with  lying  on  the 
ground ;  and  this  seems  perfectly  confirmed  by  the  state- 
ment of  Mr.  George  Robins,  who  saw  in  the  mountains  of 
Berwick  one  of  these  trees  standing  which  had,  near  the 
ground,  a  circumference  of  81  feet,  and  the  height  of  which 
he  estimated  at  500  feet.  This  Eucalyptus,  therefore,  could 
overshadow  the  great  pyramid  of  Egypt  and  the  spire  of 
the  cathedral  of  Strasburg ;  for  the  former  is  only  480  feet 
in  height,  and  the  latter  466.  Thus  these  vegetable  giants 
dethrone  all  others  that  have  hitherto  been  regarded  as  the 
forest  monarchs  of  our  globe,  and  must  be  added  to  the 
marvels  that  Australia  may  yet  have  in  store  for  us. 

When  from  these  noble  trees,  proudly  cleaving  the  clouds 
with  their  tops,  we  pass  to  those  whose  humble  stem  creeps 
upon  the  ground,  we  find  that  even  the  latter  at  times 
acquire  a  length  which  has  something  of  the  prodigious 
in  it. 

Struck  with  the  aspect  of  the  vines  in  Italy,  the  manifold 


212.  Gigantic  Cedar  of  California :   Wellingtonia  gigantea. 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  507 

garlands  of  which  entwine  from  branch  to  branch,  and  dis- 
appear amid  the  foliage  of  the  trees  without  our  being  able 
to  see  either  the  beginning  or  the  end,  Pliny  maintained 
that  they  grow  forever.  Vites  sine  fine  crescunt,  said  the 
Roman  naturalist. 

But  we  have  more  precise  data  as  to  the  size  of  sundry 
other  plants.  Thus  in  the  virgin  forests  of  India,  the  Cala- 
mus Rotang,  which  climbs  upon  the  trunks  of  aged  trees, 
and  stretches  from  one  to  another,  sinking  to  the  ground 
to  rise  again,  attains,  according  to  the  traveller  Loureiro,  a 
length  of  400  or  500  feet. 

The  Gigantic  Fucus  (Fucus  giganteus,  Linn.)  reaches 
much  more  extraordinary  proportions  ;  the  waves  of  the 
ocean,  according  to  Humboldt,  yield  strips  which  are  some- 
times 1500  to  1600  feet  long. 

In  an  interesting  article  in  the  "  Revue  Germanique," 
M.  A.  Boscowitz  says  that  in  the  botanical  garden  of  Caracas 
there  was  a  Convolvulus  which  in  six  months  attained  the 
incredible  length  of  6000  feet. 

It  must  therefore  have  grown  at  the  rate  of  more  than  a 
foot  per  hour,  and  its  growth  must  have  been  visible  to  the 
naked  eye ! 


CHAPTER  III. 

VEGETABLE    LONGEVITY. 

BUT  if  anything  ought  to  astonish  us  in  the  life  of  trees 
it  is  their  longevity  ;  we  might  even  go  farther,  and  speak 
of  the  principle  of  eternity  which  is  clearly  latent  in  some 


508  THE   UNIVERSE. 

species,  the  death  of  which  seems  rather  to  depend  upon 
fortuitous  circumstances  than  on  the  fact  of  age. 

The  life  of  animals  is  quite  ephemeral  compared  to  that 
of  our  trees.  Minute  investigations  have  thrown  consider- 
able light  upon  the  chronology  of  many  of  them. 

The  pine  and  great  chestnut  can  assuredly  extend  their 
existence  to  a  term  of  400  or  500  years.  In  the  island  of 
Teneriffe  are  found  many  venerable  pines  and  enormous 
chestnut-trees,  which  in  all  probability  were  planted  there 
by  the  Conquistadores  at  the  commencement  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  the  epoch  of  the  invasion  of  this  island. 
The  former,  the  Pinus  Canariensis,  are  distinguishable  from 
the  others,  owing  to  the  conquerors  having  in  their  piety 
decorated  them  nearly  all  with  little  madonnas,  which  are 
still  seen  suspended  to  their  boughs. 

The  lime-tree  of  Morat,  planted  at  Fribourg  on  the  day 
of  the  celebrated  battle,  is  one  of  the  oldest  trees  in  Europe. 
This  glorious  event  in  the  history  of  Switzerland  having  oc- 
curred in  the  year  1476,  the  venerated  tree,  which  is  encir- 
cled by  a  colonnade,  and  of  which  the  aged  branches  are 
upheld  by  a  framework  of  wood,  must  be  now  400  years 
old. 

The  fir  attains  a  still  greater  age.  In  some  of  the  most 
ancient  forests  of  Germany,  situated  on  the  summit  of  the 
Wurzelberg,  in  Thuringia,  as  many  as  700  annual  layers 
have  been  counted  on  some  of  the  trees  cut  down  there. 

The  olive-tree,  so  revered  in  ancient  Greece,  and  which 
inspired  such  beautiful  verses  in  the  tragedy  of  "  (Edipus  at 
Colonus,"  by  Sophocles,  reached  a  much  greater  age,  accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  myth.  Pliny  even  asserts  that  in  his 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  511 

time  the  celebrated  olive-tree  which  Minerva  caused  to 
spring  from  the  ground  at  the  epoch  of  the  foundation  of 
the  city  of  Cecrops  was  still  to  be  seen  in  the  citadel  of 
Athens. 

The  ancient  races,  struck  with  the  noble  aspect  of  our 
oaks,  have  in  all  ages  enveloped  them  in  the  clouds  of  their 
legends,  and  carried  them  back  to  the  remotest  antiquity. 
Of  this  class  was  the  mighty  holm-oak,  which  in  the  days 
of  Pliny  still  existed  near  Rome,  on  the  trunk  of  which 
there  was  an  Etruscan  inscription  in  letters  of  brass,  stating 
that  before  the  existence  of  the  Eternal  City  it  was  already 
the  object  of  popular  veneration.  The  Roman  naturalist 
also  asserts  that  in  the  environs  of  Heraclea,  in  the  king- 
dom of  Pontus,  there  was  a  tradition  that  two  oaks  which 
overshadowed  the  altar  of  Jupiter  Stragius  had  been  planted 
by  Hercules.1 

The  origin  of  certain  trees  is  lost  in  even  more  remote 
antiquity. 

The  imposing  terror  of  the  Hercynian  Forest  has  deeply 
impressed  all  those  who  have  described  Germany,  and  Pliny 
and  Tacitus  especially.  The  aged  oaks  of  its  sombre  vales, 
where  wandered  the  elk  and  the  aurochs,  especially  aroused 
the  admiration  of  the  Roman  historian ;  he  cannot  refrain 
from  speaking  of  them  in  the  most  lofty  terms.  "  The  ma- 

1  In  the  Crimea  some  trees  are  met  with  which  possess  a  certain  amount  of  ce- 
lebrity. The  chief  one  is  a  nut-tree  in  a  plain  near  Balaklava,  at  the  spot  where 
stood  the  temple  of  Iphigenia  in  Tauris.  It  is  considered  to  have  been  in  exist- 
ence at  the  time  when  the  Greek  colonies  exported  their  nuts  to  Rome,  and  that 
its  age  dates  back  several  thousand  years.  At  present  its  fertility  is  so  great  that 
it  bears  every  year  as  many  as  100,000  nuts,  which  are  shared  without  any  jarring 
among  five  Tartar  families,  to  whom  it  belongs. 


512  THE   UNIVERSE. 

jestic  grandeur  of  the  oak  in  this  forest,"  he  says,  "  sur- 
passes all  imaginable  belief:  this  tree  has  never  been 
touched  with  the  axe  ;  it  is  contemporary  with  the  creation 
of  the  world,  and  appears  to  be  the  symbol  of  immortality  ! " 

Pliny  does  not  restrict  himself  to  this  splendid  image ;  he 
adds  further  details.  "  I  wish,"  he  says,  "  to  preserve  silence 
as  to  things  so  extraordinary  as  to  be  considered  fabulous ; 
but  one  thing  is  certain,  namely,  that  where  the  roots  are 
found  they  raise  the  earth  into  little  hillocks,  and  if  the  soil 
will  not  yield  the  roots  press  against  each  other  and  form 
lofty  mounds  which  rise  to  the  branches  :  they  interlace 
with  each  other  so  as  to  form  complete  arcades,  below 
which  whole  squadrons  can  ride  on  horseback." 

This  idea  of  immortality  in  trees  is  often  met  with  in  the 
works  of  the  ancients.  The  historian  Josephus,  in  his 
"  Wars  of  the  Jews,"  relates  that  in  his  day  there  was  near 
the  city  of  Hebron  a  turpentine-tree  which  had  "  continued 
since  the  creation  of  the  world  "  (book  iv.  chap.  ix.). 

It  was  reserved  for  modern  naturalists  to  show  that  these 
assertions,  however  extraordinary  they  may  appear,  are 
still  rigorously  correct,  and  that  many  of  our  trees,  in  some 
sort  indestructible,  may  have  witnessed  the  final  scenes  of 
creation,  and,  after  braving  the  action  of  so  many  ages,  are 
still  upright  and  living  to  this  day. 

It  is  now  a  hundred  years  since  Adanson,  by  ingenious 
calculations,  showed  the  learned  that  such  ideas,  though  ex- 
traordinary, are  yet  facts  of  the  most  scrupulous  exactitude. 
This  naturalist,  by  a  happy  chance,  found  in  the  interior  of 
the  trunk  of  a  baobab  in  one  of  the  Cape  Yerd  Islands  an 
inscription  which  had  been  traced  on  it  by  the  English  300 


2H.  Gigantic  Baobab  of  the  Virgin  Forests  of  Africa:  Adansonia  diyitata  (Linmeus). 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  515 

years  previously.  Starting  from  this  point,  and  comparing 
the  diameters  of  the  stems  of  many  of  these  bulky  trees, 
the  French  savant  succeeded  in  proving  that  the  most 
vigorous  of  these  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  African  for- 
ests might  be  at  least  5000  years  old. 

A  bareheaded  cypress,  a  venerable  patriarch  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  has  possibly  traversed  a  still  longer 
vista  of  ages !  It  is  seen  at  the  present  day  on  the  road 
from  Vera  Cruz  to  Mexico,  and  is  celebrated  for  having 
sheltered  the  whole  army  of  Fernando  Cortez  beneath  its 
mighty  shade.  Its  birth,  according  to  some  botanists, 
seems  to  date  from  an  epoch  so  remote  as  to  be  almost  be- 
yond our  ken.  As  its  trunk,  which  is  117  feet  in  circum- 
ference, surpasses  that  of  the  baobabs,  and  as  its  growth  is 
slower  than  theirs,  De  Candolle  supposes  this  tree  may  be 
not  less  than  6000  years  old;  which  carries  back  its  origin 
to  the  times  anterior  to  the  period  usually  assigned  to  the 
Mosaic  creation.1 

Meanwhile,  we  ought  not  to  be  astonished  at  seeing  some 
botanists  look  upon  trees  as  so  many  beings,  the  life  of 

1  History  has  preserved  for  us  the  number  of  soldiers  that  composed  the  little 
army  of  Cortez,  and  this  knowledge  enables  us  to  estimate  how  far  the  shade  of 
the  cypress  in  question  must  have  extended.  The  army  consisted  of  six  hun- 
dred Spanish  foot  soldiers,  forty  horse,  and  nine  small  pieces  of  artillery. —  Hist. 
Gen.  des  Voy.,  t.  xii.,  p.  389.  According  to  M.  Schacht  the  calculations  of 
Adanson  are  liable  to  the  charge  of  inexactness  on  account  of  the  rapidity  with 
which  this  tree  grows.  In  forty  years  a  baobab  at  Santa  Cruz  gained  a  circum- 
ference of  about  ten  feet  four  inches. 

Strabo  mentions  trees  still  more  extraordinary,  but  without  appearing  to  be- 
lieve in  them.  He  says  that  beyond  the  Hyarotis  there  was  one  the  shade  of 
which  was  so  ample  that  it  extended  five  plethra  (505  feet),  and  could  shelter 
ten  thousand  persons.  —  Strabo,  Geography,  book  xv. 


516 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


which  is  unlimited,  and  many  of  which,  born  amid  the 
debris  of  former  cataclysms,  still  vegetate  full  of  sap  and 
vigor. 

De  Candolle,  who  puts  forward  this  opinion,  admitting 
the  hypothesis  of  Gaudichaud,  considers  the  giants  of  our 


215.  Dragon' s-Blood  Tree  of  the  Island  of  Teneriffe  :  Diwcena  Draco  (Linnaeus). 

forests  as  so  many  aggregates  of  individuals,  or  buds,  an- 
nually succeeding  on  the  stem,  which  thus  represents  a  liv- 
ing soil.  This  stem  grows  on  century  after  century,  and 
only  succumbs  by  accident,  as  when  struck  by  lightning, 
or  when  its  suckers  cannot  find  nutritive  juices. 


THE   VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  517 

Thus,  then,  we  repeat,  actual  science  demonstrates  what 
antiquity  had  only  dimly  seen. 

To  us  a  tree  is  no  longer  a  simple  individual ;  it  is  an 
agglomeration,  a  republic  of  isolated  beings,  which  fashion 
its  branches  as  the  polype  of  the  coral  constructs  its 
boughs  ;  in  fact,  it  is  a  vegetable  polypidom. 

The  slow  development  of  the  trunks  of  certain  trees  at 
once  calls  up  images  of  immobility  and  eternity.  The 
dragon's-blood  tree  of  the  Canaries  awakens  such  thoughts. 

Thrice  famous  for  its  strange  look,  its  vast  size,  and  its 
antiquity,  this  dragon's-blood  tree  is  equally  so  for  the  sta- 
tionary condition  of  its  growth.  In  the  legends  of  Teneriffe 
we  are  told  that  this  singular  tree  was  worshipped  by  the 
Guanches,  its  original  inhabitants ;  and  it  is  related  that  in 
the  fifteenth  century  mass  was  celebrated  in  the  interior  of 
its  trunk,  a  fact  even  lately  attested  by  the  vestiges  which 
were  seen  of  a  little  altar.  This  tree  grows  so  slowly  that 
after  a  tolerably  long  interval  of  time  it  was  not  possible  to 
verify  any  change  in  its  circumference.  It  was  accurately 
measured  in  1402  by  the  companions  of  Bethencourt  at  the 
time  when  they  discovered  the  island,  that  is  to  say  more 
than  460  years  ago,  and  since  then  it  has  in  no  way  in- 
creased in  diameter.  Time  has  passed  over  without  touch- 
ing it.1  Humboldt,  when  he  ascended  the  peak  of  Teneriffe 
in  1799,  measured  this  tree  a  little  above  the  level  of  the 
ground,  and  found  it  forty-five  feet  in  circumference. 

[This  tree  is  said  to  have  been  destroyed  by  a  storm  in  1867.  —  TR.] 


518  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

DENSITY    OF   PLANTS. 

As  the  duration  of  life  in  trees  presents  such  vastly  op- 
posite limits,  we  expect  to  meet  equally  enormous  differ- 
ences in  their  density  ;  and  this  is  the  case. 

Those  singular  plants,  the  Tremellae,  which,  after  a  wet 
night,  or  even  merely  a  storm,  suddenly  bestrew  the  earth 
in  the  shape  of  so  many  tremulous  masses  of  jelly,  covering 
the  ground  where  a  few  hours  before  there  was  not  a  ves- 
tige, and  which,  on  account  of  the  unexpected  manner  in 
which  they  appear,  were  looked  upon  by  the  alchemists  as 
a  supernatural  production,  an  emanation  from  the  stars,  are 
so  soft  that  the  least  pressure  crushes  and  reduces  them  to 
water. 

In  the  same  class  to  which  these  gelatinous  plants  belong 
we  find  others  of  a  surprising  degree  of  firmness.  This  is 
the  case  with  certain  Algae  scattered  over  the  shores  of  Asia, 
and  in  particular  with  the  Fucus  tendo,  the  toughness  of 
which  has  been  compared  to  that  of  the  tendons  which  con- 
vey movement  to  the  limbs  of  animals.  In  appearance  this 
marine  plant  is  exactly  like  a  cord,  and  as  it  possesses  the 
strength  of  cordage  the  Chinese,  who  are  so  ingenious  in 
everything,  make  use  of  it  in  order  to  tie  up  bales  of  goods. 
In  Japan  this  fucus  serves  for  making  fishermen's  nets. 

In  some  trees  of  considerable  size  the  trunk  is  scarcely 
harder  than  in  these  plants  :  for  instance,  that  of  the  Bom- 
bax  ceiba,  or  cheese-plant,  is  as  soft  as  the  article  of  food 
after  which  it  is  named. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  519 

On  the  contrary,  iron-wood  (Siderodendrum  triflorum), 
which  can  be  polished  like  metal,  is  so  dense  that  savages 
often  employ  it  to  make  their  war-clubs  and  other  formida- 
ble weapons  of. 


216.  The  Green  Tremella:  Tremella  atro-virens  (Bulliard). 

The  finger-nail  will  pierce  the  fleshy  stalk  of  some  eu- 
phorbias, and  cause  abundance  of  milky  juice  to  flow.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  stalks  of  some  bamboos  in  India 
almost  turn  the  file,  and,  as  we  have  said,  are  so  indurated 
with  silica  that  sparks  can  be  drawn  with  the  steel  from 
them. 


BOOK  V. 


MIGRATIONS  OF   PLANTS. 

NOTHING  reveals  to  us  the  resources  of  nature  in  a  more 
imposing  way  than  the  facility  with  which  she  covers  all 
the  surface  of  the  globe  with  vegetation  and  life.  At  times 
she  seems  to  trust  solely  to  the  immense  fecundity  allotted 
to  the  species ;  at  others  she  employs  the  most  ingenious 
and  varied  proceedings  in  order  to  transport  her  fruits  and 
seeds  from  one  pole  to  another. 

The  large  number  of  seeds  which  certain  plants  produce 
insures  their  incessant  reproduction,  and  in  this  respect  cal- 
culation often  gives  very  unexpected  results.  Ray  counted 
32,000  seeds  on  one  poppy  stalk,  and  Linnaeus  says  that  a 
single  stem  of  tobacco  sometimes  yields  40,000.  Dodard 
carries  these  figures  still  higher  in  respect  to  the  number  of 
fruits  that  can  be  collected  from  an  elm.  According  to  him, 
this  tree  annually  produces  more  than  529,000. 

It  is  clear  that  if  all  the  seeds  grew  up  only  a  few  gen- 
erations would  pass  away  ere  these  forms  of  vegetable  life 
covered  the  entire  surface  of  the  globe.  But  a  host  of 
causes  arrest  this  menacing  invasion.  Animals,  the  rigor  of 
some  climates,  and  man,  whose  civilization  encroaches  upon 
nature,  place  a  barrier  to  it.  The  first  invaders  of  a  virgin 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  521 

soil  are  pitilessly  stifled  by  those  which  follow  them;  the 
prairie  gives  way  to  a  thicket,  and  soon  after  this  dies  be- 
neath the  shady  vaults  of  a  vigorous  forest. 

The  fecundity  of  some  fungi  is  quite  extraordinary.  Fries 
counted  more  than  10,000,000  reproductive  bodies  in  one 
individual  of  the  Reticularia  maxima.  Other  plants  of  the 
same  family  rear  a  still  larger  progeny,  the  abundance  of 
which  is  prodigious,  and  which  indeed  cannot  be  numbered 
by  all  the  resources  of  the  human  intellect. 

The  immeasurable  fecundity  of  the  gigantic  Lycoperdon 
is  such  that  its  microscopic  grains  must  be  counted  by  thou- 
sands of  millions.  Now,  although  they  are  invisible  to  the 
eye,  each  of  these  may  yet  give  birth  to  a  voluminous  fun- 
gus, which  often  in  one  night  acquires  the  size  of  a  gourd. 
And  it  may  be  said,  without  hyperbole,  that  if  the  little 
seeds  of  this  plant  were  miraculously  dispersed  over  the 
whole  globe,  and  were  to  be  simultaneously  developed,  the 
earth  would  be  absolutely  paved  with  them  the  next  day. 

The  air  certainly  plays  the  most  important  part  in  the 
dissemination  of  vegetable  life.  A  host  of  light  seeds  seem 
to  have  been  decorated  with  little  plumes  and  membranous 
wings  only  in  order  to  be  borne  away  by  the  winds. 

For  this  purpose  the  seeds  of  many  Syngenesice  are  sur- 
mounted by  plumes  of  outspread  fibrillae,  forming  complete 
parachutes,  which  the  slightest  breath  of  the  zephyr  bears 
away.  Torn  from  the  mother  plant,  the  seed,  by  means  of 
its  aerial  skiff,  accomplishes  the  longest  journeys.  The 
slightest  breeze  carries  it  up  from  the  depth  of  the  valley  to 
the  mountain  peaks.  If  the  tempest  rise,  the  little  parachute, 
borne  away  on  the  powerful  wind,  mingles  with  the  stormy 


522  THE    UNIVERSE. 

clouds,  traverses  oceans,  and  then  effects  a  descent  upon  some 
distant  shore.  We  are  told  that  after  certain  hurricanes  it  is 
not  unusual  to  see  the  soil  of  Spain  covered  with  different 
aerial  seeds  brought  from  America.  It  is  to  the  action  of 
the  winds  that  Linnaeus  ascribes  the  importation  into  Europe 
of  the  Conyza  ccerulea  of  Canada,  which  now  infests  the 
north  of  France. 

The  air  does  still  more;  in  its  commotions  it  carries  away 
entire  plants  and  bears  them  to  a  long  distance,  to  let  them 
fall  there  like  an  abundant  living  shower. 

Certain  lichens  from  the  mountains  of  Asia,  travelling 
thus  amid  the  clouds,  suck  up  watery  vapors  from  them, 


217.  Edible  Air-Borne  Lichen :  Lecanora  esculenta. 

and  grow  during  their  accidental  peregrination.  Torn  away 
from  the  soil  when  they  are  scarcely  so  large  as  the  head 
of  a  pin,  they  have  reached  the  size  of  a  small  nut  by  the 
time  when,  their  aerial  journey  over,  they  fall  far  from 
their  native  rocks  upon  the  ground  below  them.  This  hap- 
pens with  many  edible  species,  which  after  a  storm  are  soon 
scattered  over  the  sand  of  the  deserts. 

These  plants,  which  seem  thus  to  fall  from  the  sky,  some- 
times form  thick  layers  on  the  soil,  and  yield  the  exhausted 
traveller  an  agreeable  food.  The  providential  manna,  on 
which  the  Hebrews  fed  while  wandering  in  the  desert, 
doubtless  arose  from  showers  of  edible  lichens ;  for  it  is 
these  plants  which  seem  always  to  produce  such  showers. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  523 

Some  years  ago,  Thenard,  the  chemist,  presented  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  one  of  these  wandering  plants,  which 
had  been  carried  away  from  the  summit  of  Mount  Ararat, 
and  been  borne  by  the  wind  to  a  great  distance  from  the 
celebrated  mountain.  In  the  countries  where  it  had  been 
strewed  upon  the  soil,  people  maintained  that  it  had  come 
from  heaven.  This  rain  of  plants  sometimes  forms  in 
those  places  a  layer  five  or  six  inches  thick.  Men  feed 
upon  it,  and  what  they  cannot  consume  is  given  to  the 
cattle. 

Some  seeds,  too  weighty  to  be  carried  by  the  winds,  ac- 
complish long  voyages  by  sea,  and,  borne  by  the  currents 
and  waves,  traverse  oceans.  The  cocoa-nuts  of  the  Sey- 
chelles, protected  by  their  woody  coverings,  are  carried 
away  by  regular  currents,  and  arrive  at  the  coast  of  Mala- 
bar, after  performing  a  journey  of  more  than  400  leagues 
by  water.  The  Hindoos,  astonished  at  this  unexpected 
fecundity,  which  is  renewed  every  year,  can  only  explain 
it  by  supposing  that  the  depths  of  ocean  nourish  the  trees 
which  produce  those  enormous  fruits. 

The  hard  fruit  of  the  cocoa-palm,  the  immense  husks  of 
the  climbing  Mimosa,  which  are  often  more  than  three  feet 
in  length,  and  many  other  fruits  from  Equatorial  America, 
torn  away  by  the  waves  and  cradled  by  the  storms,  are  fre- 
quently stranded  on  the  shores  of  Scandinavia,  where  the 
want  of  heat  and  light  is  the  sole  obstacle  to  their  develop- 
ment. 

The  regular  currents  of  the  sea  also  bear  to  a  distance 
certain  cosmopolitan  plants,  for  the  most  part  the  offspring 
of  seeds,  the  impermeable  envelope  of  which  for  a  long  time 


524  THE    UNIVERSE. 

resists  the  action  of  water.  Thus,  according  to  Karl  Muller, 
the  great  current  which  springs  from  the  eastern  coast  of 
South  America  has  been  known  to  bear  a  flotilla  of  thirteen 
species  of  plants  from  Brazil  and  Guiana  to  the  shores  of 
Congo  in  Africa.  Another  grand  oceanic  current,  travers- 
ing an  immense  space  of  the  torrid  zone,  constantly  trans- 
ports fruits  from  the  shores  of  India,  which  its  waves  tu- 
multuously  scatter  on  the  rocks  of  Brazil. 

The  most  important  migrations  in  the  vegetable  kingdom 
are  due  to  the  movements  of  fresh  waters,  rivers,  and 
streams.  Pascal  says  that  rivers  are  moving  roads,  but  the 
plants  seem  to  have  found  this  out  before  he  did.  Carried 
by  the  fugitive  waves,  seeds  sometimes  travel  great  dis- 
tances to  seek  a  new  country.  It  is  thus  that  the  rivers 
which  spring  from  the  glaciers  of  the  Upper  Alps  deposit 
in  the  plains  of  Munich  some  of  the  species  which  grow  on 
their  lofty  peaks;  others  descend  from  the  spurs  of  the 
Andes,  to  seek  a  humble  shelter  in  the  isles  by  the  mouth 
of  the  Orinoco.  Plants  are  known  which  fall  from  the 
lofty  heights  of  the  Himalayas,  and  pass  safely  through  the 
turmoil  of  their  foaming  cascades,  to  expand  their  corollas 
on  the  enchanting  borders  of  the  delta  of  the  Ganges.1 

Dreading  the  agitation  of  torrents  and  waves,  some 
nautical  fruits  trust  to  tranquil  waters  only ;  thus  upon  the 
waves  of  the  Nile  sail  peacefully  the  floating  cradles  of  the 
lotus.  For  this  purpose  its  fruits  form  little  circular  boats, 
the  interior  of  which  contains  the  precious  progeny.  At 

1  An  Alpine  moss  (Bryum  Alpinum),  certainly  torn  away  in  the  Thuringian  for- 
est, is  borne  by  the  water  to  the  porphyry  rocks  near  Halle.  Darwin  thinks  that 
the  forests  of  peach  and  orange-trees  which  cover  the  mouth  of  the  Parana  owe 
their  origin  merely  to  seeds  carried  by  the  river. 


THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  525 

maturity  the  waves  carry  off  these  reproductive  germs  en 
masse,  and  transport  them  to  a  distance.  Then  when  the 
rude  shocks  of.  the  voyage  have  finally  torn  the  little  skiff, 
the  seeds  of  the  sacred  plant,  which  have  remained  intact 
amid  the  waifs  and  strays,  sink  into  the  mud  and  water,  and 
thus  fertilize  the  burning  banks  of  the  king  of  rivers. 

Even  masses  of  ice,  especially  at  some  prehistoric  epochs 
of  the  globe,  have  played  a  certain  part  in  the  dispersion 
of  plants.  Karl  Muller  thinks  that  the  wandering  blocks, 
which  the  glaciers  drive  before  them  in  their  efforts,  carry 
certain  seeds  from  place  to  place.  This  grand  phenomenon, 
which  poured  immense  seas  of  ice  over  countries  where  now 
a  mild  temperature  reigns,  might  certainly  have  precipi- 
tated some  plants  from  the  mountain  tops  into  the  depths 
of  the  valleys. 

Thus  at  the  present  day  we  see  growing  in  the  north  of 
Germany  lichens,  mosses,  and  some  woody  plants,  in  par- 
ticular the  Swedish  cornel-tree,  which  have  evidently  de- 
scended from  the  mountains  of  Scandinavia,  and  have  been 
borne  away  by  the  icebergs,  which,  along  with  them,  trans- 
ported to  the  plains  of  ancient  Germany  the  granite  boul- 
ders with  which  they  are  strewn. 

At  other  times  the  aid  of  another  process  is  requisite  to 
enable  icebergs  to  transport  plants  from  one  hemisphere  to 
another.  Their  floating  islands,  becoming  detached  from 
the  shore,  carry  away  with  them  fragments  of  rock  still 
covered  with  animals  and  plants.  After  having  been  long 
worn  by  the  waves  and  currents,  these  islands  at  last  light 
upon  some  propitious  shore,  and,  sinking  there,  deposit 
their  living  population.  Thus,  along  with  the  polar  bears 


526  THE    UNIVERSE. 

which  so  frequently  travel  on  the  ice-blocks,  some  seeds  torn 
from  the  boreal  regions  often  reach  happier  climates. 

Animals  also  contribute  freely  to  the  dissemination  of 
vegetable  products.  Marmots,  dormice,  hamsters,  heap  up 
fruits  in  their  underground  abodes.  Frequently  a  part  of 
the  booty  accumulated  by  their  active  foresight  is  left  for- 
gotten in  the  ground,  germinates  there,  and  develops  with 
the  return  of  spring.  At  other  times  the  weapon  of  the 
sportsman  slaughters  the  owner  of  the  store,  and  his  hoard 
turns  to  the  profit  of  vegetation.  Squirrels  break  down  the 
cones  of  the  pine  in  order  to  devour  the  seeds,  of  which 
they  are  very  fond.  But  during  this  occupation  some  of 
the  seeds  escape  them,  fall,  and  take  root  in  the  ground. 

Some  mammals  assist  the  process  of  dissemination  by  a 
still  more  simple  means  :  the  seeds  cling  to  their  wool,  and 
are  transported  hither  and  thither  by  them  during  their 
peregrinations.  The  seeds  of  the  burdock,  which  end  in  a 
hook,  are  very  well  adapted  for  this  purpose.  Those  of  the 
goose-grass  (Galium  aparine),  roughened  with  fine  points 
like  so  many  fish-hooks,  cling  to  the  skin  of  any  animal  or 
the  dress  of  any  man  who  may  happen  to  pass  near  them ; 
a  peculiarity  which  acquired  for  this  plant  the  surname  of 
philanthropos  among  the  witty  Greeks. 

Although  animals  consume  a  large  quantity  of  seeds  for 
their  food,  nature,  by  a  happy  compensation,  finds  in  this 
consumption  an  inexhaustible  source  of  regeneration. 

In  this  way  great  troops  of  reindeer,  which  are  scattered 
over  the  plains  of  Siberia,  emigrating  in  masses  on  all  sides, 
sow,  as  they  pass  along,  a  host  of  plants,  the  seeds  of  which, 
swallowed  with  their  food,  have  resisted  their  digestive 
powers. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  527 

It  is  to  the  thrushes,  which  eat  with  avidity  the  fruit  of 
the  mistletoe,  that  we  owe  the  propagation  of  this  sacred 
plant,  so  celebrated  in  ancient  Gaul,  and  which  the  Druids 
gathered  with  a  golden  sickle. 

As  Theophrastus  remarked,  these  birds  swallow  the  ber- 
ries of  the  mistletoe.  But  as  the  pulp  alone  is  absorbed, 
and  as  the  seeds  defy  their  digestive  powers,  these,  like  the 
worm  of  Hamlet,  which  only  effects  its  migration  by  trav- 
ersing the  body  of  a  beggar,  fall  with  the  excrement  upon 
the  branches,  and  there  take  root.  Here  the  mistletoe  soon 
forms  those  parasitical  tufts  which  invade  the  crowns  of  the 
giants  of  our  forests,  —  beautiful  globular  tufts,  decorated 
with  perpetual  verdure  when  winter  has  already  stripped  of 
leaves  their  powerful  supporter.1 

Other  birds  also  propagate  a  great  number  of  plants  by 
similar  means.  Travellers  relate  that  the  Dutch  having  de- 
stroyed the  nutmeg-trees  in  several  of  the  Indian  Islands,  in 
order  to  confine  the  cultivation  of  these  trees  to  Ceylon,  the 
nutmeg-eating  pigeons,  which  are  very  fond  of  this  fruit, 
sowed  the  tree  afresh  in  almost  every  spot  where  Dutch 
vandalism  had  extirpated  it.  The  pulp  of  these  fruits  be- 
ing all  that  is  absorbed  by  the  process  of  digestion,  the 
seed  is  voided  by  these  birds  intact  and  still  capable  of  ger- 
mination. 

The  part  played  by  birds  in  the  general  harmony  of  the 
globe  does  not  end  here.  According  to  some  botanists,  it  is 
the  birds  that  carry  off  the  coral-red  service-berries,  and 

1  Once  adherent  to  the  branch,  the  seed  of  the  mistletoe  germinates  there, 
plunges  its  root  into  the  bark,  and  lives  at  the  expense  of  the  tree.  The  stalks  of 
this  plant  possess  the  peculiarity  of  extending  with  equal  facility  in  every  direc- 
tion. The  fruit  is  white,  and  of  the  size  of  a  currant. 


528  THE   UNIVERSE. 

thus  plant  the  tree  on  the  crumbling  porticoes  of  our  castles 
and  our  old  ruined  churches.  The  grape  of  America  (Phy- 
tolacca  decandra),  recently  introduced  near  Bordeaux,  has 
been  disseminated  by  the  winged  songsters  of  our  forests 
all  through  southern  France,  and  even  as  far  as  the  desert 
gorges  of  the  Pyrenees.  It  is  to  the  magpie  of  Ceylon  that 
the  propagation  of  the  cinnamon-trees  in  that  island  is  often 
intrusted,  and  this  fact  is  so  generally  known  that  the  in- 
habitants afford  it  ample  protection. 

Certain  islands,  which  everything  proves  were  formed 
after  the  great  continents  near  them,  owe  the  principal  ele- 
ments of  their  colonization  solely  to  birds  and  to  the  marine 
currents.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  Iceland,  which 
has  been  observed  to  be  furnished  with  plants  brought  to  it 
from  Greenland  and  Northern  Europe,  carried  thither  by 
the  innumerable  birds  which  annually  migrate  in  these 
latitudes. 

It  is  also  to  birds  that  the  varied  flora  seen  in  the  interior 
of  the  Coliseum  at  Rome  is  owing.  In  fact,  the  entire  veg- 
etation which  covers  these  celebrated  ruins,  from  the  fig- 
trees,  the  powerful  roots  of  which  split  its  arches,  to  the 
humble  grass  that  blooms  upon  its  fallen  stones,  has  been 
introduced  into  the  vast  structure  solely  by  means  of  ani- 
mals.1 

In  like  manner,  some  mammals,  even  of  the  most  car- 
nivorous kind,  eat  sundry  fruits  of  which  their  digestive 
organs,  though  possessed  of  great  energy,  only  act  on  the 

1  According  to  Sebastian!,  an  Italian  author,  the  number  of  species  of  plants 
growing  in  the  Coliseum  of  Rome  which  have  been  transported  thither  by  the 
birds  is  not  less  than  261. 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  529 

pulp  ;  and  as  they  wander  about  they  deposit  the  seeds  in- 
tact along  with  their  excremei-ts.  In  this  way  a  species  of 
civet  in  Java  and  Manilla  takes  an  active  part  in  disseminat- 
ing the  coffee-tree.  It  greedily  eats  the  fruit,  and  the  pulp, 
being  like  that  of  the  cherry,  is  easily  acted  upon  by  the 
intestines,  which  afterwards  expel  the  seeds  still  in  a  fit 
state  for  germination.1 

Man  himself  ought  to  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most 
active  agents  in  the  dissemination  of  plants.  His  vessels 
and  caravans,  traversing  the  ocean  and  the  desert,  trans- 
port, unknown  to  him,  seeds  and  plants  which  invade  new 
countries. 

In  this  way,  through  the  importation  of  American  sheep 
into  France,  certain  seeds  attached  to  them  have  become 
localized  in  France.  In  one  locality  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Montpellier,  where  a  large  quantity  of  wool  is  received  from 
Buenos  Ayres  and  Mexico,  several  species  of  plants  derived 
from  the  flora  of  these  two  countries  are  now  seen  growing 
on  every  side.  The  botanists  of  the  celebrated  school  of 
Montpellier  —  the  De  Candolles,  the  Delilles,  and  the  Du- 
nalds  —  were  perfectly  aware  of  the  fact,  and  from  time  to 

1  In  Java  it  is  the  civet  called  Vioerra  Musanya  which  effects  the  dissemination 
of  the  coffee  by  scattering  it  here  and  there  with  its  excrement.  Karl  Miiller, 
following  the  authority  of  Junghuhn,  relates  that  this  coffee  which  has  passed 
through  the  digestive  organs  of  this  mammal  is  even  considered  by  the  Javanese 
as  of  superior  quality,  and  that  they  do  not  disdain  to  collect  it  for  their  use  from 
the  excrement  of  the  animal.  The  American  grape  (Phylolacca  deca,*dra,  L.) 
was  introduced  into  the  neighborhood  of  Bordeaux  in  order  that  it  might  be  used 
for  coloring  wine,  and  it  is  from  thence  the  birds  have  spread  it  so  widely.  The 
so-called  sparrow  which  in  Ceylon  sows  the  camellias  in  every  direction  is  the 
Turdus  Zeilanicus,  a  kind  of  thrush.  —  K.  Miiller,  b.  i.,  s.  91,  92. 


630  THE   UNIVERSE. 

time  made  their  way  to  this  spot,  in  order  to  botanize  amid 
the  products  of  the  tropics  without  fatigue  and  without  peril. 

At  other  times,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of 
commerce  or  his  own  pleasure,  man  extirpates  certain  spe- 
cies from  their  native  country  in  order  to  enrich  distant 
lands  with  them.  In  short,  it  is  sometimes  to  the  armies 
of  conquerors  that  we  owe  certain  exotic  plants 

Yet  there  are  countries  which  are  sometimes  invaded  by 
a  vegetation  neither  the  arrival  nor  the  vigor  of  which  can 
be  explained.  It  grows  in  its  new  country  with  such  en- 
ergy that  it  stifles  everything  that  previously  grew  in  the 
spots  where  it  fixes  itself.  Thus  a  large  everlasting,  the 
Helichrysum  fetidum,  transplanted  from  America  to  France, 
has  become  a  despotic  ruler  in  many  of  the  southern  dis- 
tricts of  that  country. 

In  opposition  to  this,  the  common  artichoke  has  exiled 
itself  from  France  in  order  to  establish  itself  victoriously  in 
certain  districts  of  Patagonia,  and  dispossess  the  rightful 
owners.  In  bringing  our  most  useful  cereal  from  Asia  we 
have  brought  with  it  the  cockle,  the  wild  poppy,  and  the 
corn-flower,  which  enamel  our  harvests  with  such  lively 
colors. 

Our  wants  have  caused  us  to  import  the  greatest  part  of 
our  alimentary  plants  from  Asia.  Wheat  evidently  comes 
from  Persia  ;  Michaux  and  Olivier  observed  it  there  in  the 
wild  state.  The  vine,  the  olive,  and  the  walnut-tree  were 
brought  to  us  from  the  mountains  of  Asia.  The  citron- 
tree  comes  originally  from  Media,  and  the  orange-tree  from 
China.1 

1  The  wild  radish  (Raphanus  raplmnistrum,  Linn.),  often  called  the  white  char- 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  531 

It  is  owing  to  this  variety  in  the  means  of  transport  that 
vegetation  has  established  itself  with  such  great  rapidity  on 
all  parts  of  the  globe  which  have  been  laid  bare.  Its  most 
elementary  representative  forms  first  appear  on  the  naked 
rock  ;  the  air  seems  almost  to  suffice  for  their  nourishment : 
these  are  the  lichens  and  the  microscopic  fungi.  Then  ap- 
pear mosses,  which,  leaving  mould  behind  them  as  they 
decompose,  form  for  the  future  a  soil  thick  enough  to  nour- 
ish the  grasses.  Lastly,  come  shrubs  and  bushes,  and  then 
a  verdant  forest  is  soon  seen  rising  in  a  district  formerly 
stricken  with  sterility.1 

lock  or  twisted  charlock,  which  is  originally  from  Asia,  was  clandestinely  intro- 
duced into  our  fields  when  the  cereals  were  brought  hither.  Spinach  comes  from 
Media.  The  lentil  (Ervum  lens.  Linn.)  and  the  common  haricot  (Phaseolus  vul- 
garis}  are  probably  derived  from  Arabia;  melons  and  cucumbers,  from  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris;  the^ilac  (Syringa  vulgaris)  first  came  from  Asia  to 
Vienna,  and  then  spread  through  Europe.  The  lily  (Lilium  candidwri)  is  from 
the  mountains  of  Syria.  The  weeping  willow  (Salix  Bdbylonica,  Linn.)  was  trans- 
planted from  the  plains  of  Babylon,  and  spread  through  Europe  by  means  of  the 
poet  Pope,  who  received  a  specimen  from  Smyrna.  Tradition  relates  that  the 
father  of  all  our  orange-trees  in  Europe  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  convent  of  St. 
Sabina,  on  the  Aventine  Hill  in  Rome,  and  it  is  maintained  that  it  was  planted 
by  St.  Dominic,  A.  D.  1200.  The  Hortensia,  dedicated  by  Comerson  to  Hortensia 
Lepaute,  who  distinguished  herself  in  astronomy,  comes  originally  from  Japan, 
whence  it  only  arrived  in  1788.  It  is  from  this  island,  also,  that  the  camellia 
comes,  having  been  brought  from  thence  by  R.  P.  Came'li.  Mexico  also  furnishes 
an  abundance  of  cacti.  The  dahlia  was  imported  from  Mexico,  and  thus  named 
in  honor  of  a  Swedish  botanist,  Andrew  Dahl. 

1  In  my  youth  I  travelled  through  the  celebrated  valley  of  Goldau  in  Switzer- 
land, where,  twenty  years  previously,  a  whole  mountain  had  given  way  in  the 
most  frightful  manner,  crushing  several  villages,  and  covering  an  immense  space 
with  fragments  of  broken  rocks.  All  these  rocks,  lately  quite  bare,  were  already 
covered  with  a  luxuriant  vegetation,  and  the  tortuous  and  uneven  road  which  had 
been  cleared  through  this  vast  sheet  of  ruin  was  everywhere  smiling  and  fresh, 
and  covered  with  pines  and  shrubs  of  the  most  charming  aspect.  M.  Boussin- 


532  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  vital  resistance  of  seeds,  which  varies  between  the 
widest  extremes,  comes  also  to  the  aid  of  dissemination.  In 
fact,  while  there  are  some  grains  the  organic  development 
of  which  seems  as  if  it  could  not  be  checked,  and  which  are 
so  impelled  towards  life  that  they  germinate  even  on  the 
plant  which  produces  them,  as  we  have  seen  is  the  case 
with  the  Rhizophorse  ;  there  are  others  which,  on  the  con- 
trary, yield  embryos  in  the  bosom  of  which  life  may  slum- 
ber through  a  succession  of  ages. 

The  seed  of  the  coffee-tree,  notwithstanding  the  thick 
coriaceous  covering  of  its  embryo,  in  a  very  short  time  loses 
the  power  of  germinating.  Should  the  planter  defer  sow- 
ing only  for  a  few  days,  the  seed  will  be  incapable  of  repro- 
duction. 

But  on  the  other  hand  some  seeds,  apparently  less  hardy, 
preserve  their  germinating  power  for  a  long  time.  Haricot 
beans  have  been  obtained  from  seeds  taken  out  of  the  her- 
barium of  Tournefort,  which  could  not  have  been  less  than 
one  hundred  years  old. 

More  delicate  seeds  resist  destructive  causes  even  much 
longer  than  this.  A  few  years  ago  a  successful  attempt  was 
made  to  grow  seeds  from  the  heliotrope,  lucerne,  and 
clover,  which  had  been  found  in  a  Gallo-Roman  tomb 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  years  "old. 

An  analogous  fact,  which  it  seems  impossible  to  doubt  on 

gault  mentions  a  similar  instance  which  he  observed  in  America.  In  ten  years  a 
mass  of  porphyry  rocks,  which  had  fallen  down,  was  covered  with  massive  aca- 
cias. —  Boussingault,  Economic  Rurale.  [Lees,  on  weighing  together  and  sepa- 
rately a  tuft  of  Bryum  capillare  and  the  soil  attached  to  it,  found  that  it  had 
collected  and  retained  on  the  tiled  roof  where  it  grew  five  times  its  own  weight 
of  humus.  —  TR.] 


THE    VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.  533 

account  of  the  high  reputation  of  the  botanist  who  relates 
it,  is  that  which  is  mentioned  by  Lindley.  This  savant  as- 
sures us  that  seeds  of  the  raspberry,  which  had  been  taken 
from  a  Celtic  burying-ground  dating  about  seventeen  hun- 
dred years  back,  having  been  sown  in  the  garden  of  the 
Horticultural  Society  of  London,  produced  bushes  of  their 
species,  which  are  still  to  be  seen. 

But  life  seems  to  make  a  still  longer  stay  in  the  embryo 
of  some  other  plants.  Many  learned  men  maintain  that 
grains  of  wheat  of  such  antiquity  as  to  go  back  to  the  epoch 
of  the  Pharaohs  have  germinated  and  yielded  a  harvest 
after  having  been  intrusted  to  the  earth !  They  had  been 
found  in  Egyptian  bury  ing-places  by  the  side  of  mummies, 
and  thus,  in  all  probability,  had  been  reaped  on  the  borders 
of  the  Nile  three  or  four  thousand  years  ago.1 

According  to  some  English  botanists,  the  bulb  of  the  mar- 
itime squill  presents  a  longevity  not  less  extraordinary. 

Being  the  object  of  a  special  worship  in  ancient  Egypt, 
where  temples  were  even  reared  to  it,  this  sacred  plant  was 

1  This  assertion  is  based  on  the  experiments  of  Sternberg,  who  says  he  saw 
grains  of  wheat  obtained  from  Egyptian  tombs  give  birth  to  new  wheat.  Schacht, 
professor  at  the  University  of  Bonn,  seems  to  admit  this  fact  as  proven.  It  is, 
however,  necessary  to  state  that  Messrs.  Vilmorin  and  Payen  think  this  assertion 
doubtful.  The  celebrated  chemist  even  maintains  that  the  germinative  faculty  of 
wheat  does  not  last  more  than  sixty  vears. 

An  English  experimentalist  sent  me  twenty  years  ago  stalks  of  wheat  which  he 
assured  me  had  grown  from  grains  collected  in  an  Egyptian  sarcophagus.  These 
blades  were  twice  as  high  as  those  of  our  cereal,  and  the  ears  were  of  a  peculiar 
character.  But,  as  M.  Louis  Figuier  judicially  observes  in  his  work  on  botany, 
we  ought  to  be  on  our  guard  about  such  prodigies  ;  the  malignity  of  the  vulgar 
has  in  such  matters  only  too  often  deceived  the  good  faith  of  some  observers.  — 
Histoire  des  Plantes,  Paris,  1865,  p.  198. 


534  THE   UNIVERSE. 

sometimes  swathed  in  small  bandages  and  solemnly  depos- 
ited in  the  sarcophagus.  The  daring  genius  of  naturalists 
sought  to  pry  into  these  vegetable  mummies,  in  order  to  see 
if  they  did  not  yet  retain  some  spark  of  life  after  so  many 
ages  of  sleep.  And  we  are  told  that  these  corpses  of  roots, 
withdrawn  from  their  double  prison  and  placed  in  a  favor- 
ing soil,  quickly  vegetated  again,  becoming  decked  with 
flowers  and  fruits. 


GEOLOGY. 


"  While  Caesar's  chambers  and  the  Augustan  halls 
Grovel  on  earth  in  indistinct  decay." 

Manfred,  Act  III. 

Nous  retrouvons  encore  des  vestiges  des  fleurs  ante*diluviennes  qui  animerent  les  premiers 
gazons  du  globe ! 

We  still  find  vestiges  of  the  antediluvian  flowers  which  gave  life  to  the  first  meadows  on 
earth. 


BOOK  I. 

FORMATION  OF  THE  GLOBE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

APPEARANCE  OF  ANIMALS  AND  PLANTS. 

WHEN  learned  men  began  to  occupy  themselves  with  the 
theory  of  the  earth,  they  became  divided  into  two  very 
clearly  defined  opposite  parties :  — 

The  Plutonists,  who  attributed  the  formation  of  the  crust 
of  the  globe  exclusively  to  fire  ;  and 

The  Neptunists,  who,  on  the  contrary,  derived  everything 
from  the  action  of  water. 

The  truth  is  that  fire  and  water  have  had  their  share  by 
turns.  One  part  of  the  terrestrial  crust  is  the  result  of 
heat,  the  other  that  of  the  deposit  from  water. 

It  is  evident  that  the  globe  was  originally  a  purely  incan- 
descent mass.  Descartes  had  divined  this  great  fact,  and 
had  stated  that  the  earth  was  only  a  sun  crusted  over  and 
partially  extinguished,  the  chilled  skin  of  which  hid  the 
central  furnace  from  view. 

Leibnitz  developed  this  hypothesis  in  his  "  Protogsea."  It 
was  afterwards  successively  confirmed,  partly  by  the  obser- 
vations of  Buff  on  and  Cuvier,  partly  by  the  calculations  of 
Cordier,  La  Place,  and  Fourier. 


538  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  globe  on  fire,  and  launched  into  space,  necessarily 
obeyed  the  laws  of  the  radiation  of  heat,  and  when,  after  a 
long  succession  of  ages,  it  had  sufficiently  cooled  down,  its 
surface  became  solidified,  and  constituted  the  primitive  crust. 

When  this  cooling  down  had  made  sufficient  progress,  the 
vapors  from  the  earth,  an  immense  atmosphere  of  which 
enveloped  the  globe,  became  condensed,  and  poured  over 
the  surface  in  torrents  of  rain.  Gleams  of  lightning  and  in- 
cessant peals  of  thunder  accompanied  these  imposing  scenes 
of  the  birth  of  our  globe,  of  which  our  imagination  will 
never  yield  us  more  than  an  imperfect  image.  Such  was 
the  origin  of  the  first  seas. 

At  the  same  time  that,  in  the  course  of  ages,  the  crust  of 
the  earth  augmented  in  thickness,  the  cooling  down,  by 
contracting  the  globe,  forced  its  envelope  to  yield  and 
break.  These  efforts  produced  the  mountains  which  now 
roughen  its  surface. 

Whilst  the  crust  of  the  earth  was  yet  thin,  a  slight  effort 
of  the  central  heat  sufficed  to  rupture  it,  but  this  only  pro- 
duced insignificant  elevations.  When  this  crust  had  ac- 
quired sufficient  firmness  and  thickness,  its  rupture,  inas- 
much as  it  demanded  much  greater  force,  was  only  effected 
by  means  of  the  most  violent  plutonic  movements  ;  it  was 
then  that  the  Cordilleras  rose  into  the  clouds. 

The  upheaval  of  each  mountain  chain  was  necessarily  ac- 
companied by  enormous  perturbations  in  the  level  of  the 
sea ;  from  thence  came  these  grand  scenes  of  deluges  men- 
tioned in  the  cosmogonies  of  all  nations.  These  upheavals, 
of  which  at  least  fifteen  or  sixteen  have  been  made  out,  ter- 
minated by  the  rising  of  the  chain  of  the  Andes,  the  result 


GEOLOGY.  539 

of  an  immense  rent,  extending  almost  from  one  pole  to  the 
other.  This,  by  lifting  up  the  two  Americas  above  the 
ocean,  raised  the  prodigious  mass  of  water  which  submerged 
the  ancient  continent,  and  produced  the  Mosaic  deluge. 
Thus  fire  and  water  successively  remodelled  the  surface  of 
the  globe. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  crust  of  the  earth  in  break- 
ing follows  a  fixed  determinate  direction.  Von  Buch,  Hum- 
boldt,  and  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont  have,  in  speaking  of  this 
subject,  called  our  attention  to  the  fact,  that  all  the  great 
mountain  chains  have  been  developed  from  the  north  to 
the  south,  as  the  Andes  and  Ural,  or  from  west  to  east,  as 
in  the  Atlas  chain. 

It  is  evident  that  each  telluric  phase  had  its  peculiar  or- 
ganic forms,  and  that  the  species  of  animals  of  one  geolog- 
ical epoch  neither  lived  before  nor  after  this  epoch.  Hum- 
boldt  himself,  the  most  illustrious  philosopher  of  modern 
times,  embraces  this  opinion  without  any  qualification. 
"  Each  upheaval,"  he  says,  "  of  these  mountain  chains,  of 
which  we  can  determine  the  relative  antiquity,  has  been 
signalized  by  the  destruction  of  ancient  species  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  new  organisms." 

It  is  impossible  to  be  more  explicit.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Buck- 
land  professes  the  same  opinion,  and  says  that  numerous 
groups  of  animals  and  plants  have  already  had  their  begin- 
ning and  their  end,  and  that  creative  intervention  must 
have  manifested  itself  at  the  appearance  of  each  of  them. 

Telluric  phenomena  have  not  been  abandoned  to  the 
fluctuations  of  chance.  Governed  by  harmonious  laws,  each 
of  them  links  itself  with  the  past,  and  loses  itself  in  the 


540  THE   UNIVERSE. 

future.  And  thus  every  generation  that  appears  is  only 
the  corollary  of  that  which  is  expiring,  and  the  prelude  of 
that  which  is  about  to  spring  into  life.  The  stages  of  crea- 
tion, except  some  rare  oscillations,  follow  a  rising  scale. 
Nature  seems  to  proceed  by  a  succession  of  essays  before 
fashioning  her  more  splendid  chefs-d'oeuvre;  sundry  minute 
crustaceans,  a  few  molluscs,  precede  the  reptiles,  and  these 
prelude  the  creation  of  birds  and  mammals ! 

The  earth  is  only  an  immense  cemetery,  where  each  gen- 
eration acquires  life  at  the  expense  of  the  debris  of  that 
which  has  just  expired  ;  the  particles  of  our  corpses  form 
new  materials  for  the  beings  which  will  follow  us.  But  we 
have  now  reached  an  epoch  of  transition ;  the  exhausted 
creative  powers  are  experiencing  almost  a  period  of  arrest ; 
they  are  waiting  till  new  telluric  perturbations  awaken 
them  from  their  torpor ! 

The  first  compact  crust  which  enveloped  the  globe  was 
only  formed  by  the  cooling  down  and  solidification  of  its 
superficial,  once  incandescent,  layers.  Hence  the  beds 
which  compose  it  are  called  primitive  or  plutonic,  in  order 
to  indicate  their  antiquity  or  igneous  origin. 

The  strata  which  overlie  the  primitive  rocks  owe,  on  the 
contrary,  their  formation  to  deposit  from  the  waters  ;  and 
for  this  reason  are  called  alluvial  or  neptunian  strata. 
These  are  divided  into  four  leading  groups  :  the  transition 
rocks,  secondary  rocks,  tertiary  rocks,  and  diluvium. 


GEOLOGY.  541 

CHAPTER  II. 

PRIMARY   EPOCH. 

WHEN  the  globe  had  sufficiently  cooled  down,  the  fright- 
ful ocean  of  fire  which  enveloped  its  entire  surface  stilled 
its  burning  waves,  leaving  to  float  hither  and  thither  a  few 
black  and  smoking  islets,  —  the  first  traces  of  the  terrestrial 
crust.  These  soon  increased  in  thickness,  and  at  last  in- 
vaded all  the  space  that  had  formerly  been  in  combustion. 
Thus  were  formed  the  primary  rocks  ;  they  are  all  of  ig- 
neous origin,  and  all  bear  marks  of  fire. 

These  first  steps  towards  the  solidification  of  the  globe 
produced  the  granites,  which  seem  to  be  only  the  result  of 
the  incandescent  mass  on  the  surface  of  the  globe  being 
chilled  ;  hence  these  rocks  are  found  everywhere.  They 
form  the  skeleton,  the  supporting  arch,  so  to  speak,  of  the 
other  layers  which,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  have  accumulated 
upon  them. 

But  in  the  beginning  these  chilled  waves  only  produced 
thin  beds,  which  were  often  broken  up  again  by  the  fiery 
ocean  below :  in  consequence  of  this  the  granites  exhibit 
great  differences  ;  indeed,  as  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont  happily 
remarks,  "  perhaps  not  a  single  page  of  these  first  archives 
of  our  globe  remains  intact."  The  gneiss,  for  instance, 
seems  to  be  only  granite  which  has  been  fused  again  in  the 
central  fire. 

The  rocks  of  the  primary  epoch  being  all  the  product  of 
a  mass  in  the  state  of  ignition,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  we 


542  THE   UNIVERSE. 

do  not  find  among  them  any  trace  of  organized  beings,  but, 
by  way  of  compensation,  they  contain  the  principal  riches 
which  Nature  elaborates  in  the  splendid  laboratories  of  her 
alchemy. 

Metalliferous  layers  often  lie  in  veins,  huge  cracks  in  the 
globe  filled  with  divers  materials.  Philosophers  guided  only 
by  the  power  of  intuition  —  Descartes  and  Leibnitz  —  had 
taken  up  perfectly  correct  ideas  as  to  the  theory  of  their 
formation.  They  considered  that  the  ores  and  other  sub- 
stances met  with  in  the  rocks  had  filled  up  the  clefts  by 
solidifying  there,  having  escaped  in  a  state  of  vapor  from 
the  burning  beds  below.  Werner  demonstrated  this  in  a 
very  plausible  way,  and  modern  geologists  have  accepted 
his  views,  at  the  same  time  modifying  them  a  little. 

In  his  beautiful  work  "  La  Vie  Souterraine,"  M.  Simonin 
maintains  that  these  metallic  emanations  may  reach  the  fis- 
sures in  two  ways.  "  They  are  deposited  in  the  fissures 
which  constitute  the  veins  either  in  the  state  of  vapor  by  a 
dry  method,  as  in  the  craters  of  volcanoes  or  the  chimneys 
of  smelting  furnaces  ;  or  in  a  state  of  chemical  precipita- 
tion by  a  wet  method,  as  in  the  solutions  of  our  labora- 
tories." 

This  hypothesis,  as  the  author  tells  us,  meets  all  objec- 
tions, explaining  at  the  same  time  the  deposit  and  the  for- 
mation of  the  matrix  which  envelops  it. 

Granite  and  porphyry  must  be  classed  among  the  richest 
metalliferous  rocks,  but  beds  of  ore  are  also  met  with  in  the 
old  transition  rocks.  It  is  in  these  that  gold  and  silver  are 
found.  The  placers  of  California  are  often  formed  merely 
by  the  detritus  of  granite  rocks  and  schists  filled  with  par- 


GEOLOGY.  543 

tides  of  gold,  deposited  on  the  beds  of  ancient  rivers  which 
had  borne  them  away. 

The  rich  family  of  precious  stones,  the  diamond,  ruby, 
sapphire,  and  emerald,  seem  to  owe  their  formation  to  the 
same  cause  as  the  masses  of  metal.  Volatilized  in  clefts  of 
the  igneous  rocks,  these  stones  there  turned  into  brilliant 
crystallizations,  — tears  of  nature,  as  M.  Sirnonin  calls  them. 


CHAPTER    III. 

TRANSITION   PERIOD. 

IT  was  at  the  transition  period  that  the  dawn  of  life  be- 
gan to  show  itself.  No  animal  could  have  lived  upon  the 
burning  surface  of  the  globe  during  the  plutonic  period. 
But  so  soon  as  it  was  sufficiently  cooled  down  to  admit  of 
living  creatures  appearing  on  it,  we  see  them  at  once  enter 
upon  the  scene.  This  is  characteristic  of  this  epoch. 

The  earth,  imperfectly  cooled  down,  still  maintained  a 
very  high  temperature,  and  this  temperature  was  the  same 
from  one  pole  to  another  ;  the  sun  only  brought  with  it 
useless  supplementary  heat.  There  were  neither  seasons 
nor  climates ;  the  torrid  zone  and  the  polar  regions  were 
peopled  with  the  same  plants  and  animals  ;  their  fossilized 
remains  are  identical,  whether  found  beneath  the  ice  of 
Spitzbergen  or  in  the  rocks  of  burning  tropical  countries. 

SILURIAN  PERIOD.  —  This  name  is  derived  from  that  of  a 
part  of  England  inhabited  by  the  ancient  Silures,  and  is 
given  to  the  strata  of  this  epoch  because  they  have  been 
chiefly  studied  there. 


544  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  globe  at  that  time  supported  nothing  but  a  very 
small  number  of  sea-animals,  belonging  to  classes  of  the 
lowest  order  of  organization,  as  if  Nature,  still  feeble  and 
undecided,  were  in  their  production  making  the  first  trial  of 
her  strength. 

The  seas,  still  warm,  occupied  at  this  time  nearly  all  the 
surface  of  the  globe,  and  only  very  small  portions  of  land 
had  emerged  from  the  waters,  —  islets  lost  in  the  midst  of 
a  boundless  ocean.  Crustaceans,  a  few  scattered  molluscs, 
polypoids,  and  a  small  number  of  fish  were  the  sole  tenants 
of  the  deep. 

But  among  the  silurian  animals,  those  which  especially 
predominated  were  the  trilobites,  the  name  of  which  is  de- 
rived from  the  arrangement  of  their  articulated  bodies, 
formed,  to  a  certain  extent,  by  three  long  lobes  ranged 
side  by  side  to  each  other.  No  living  representative  of 
these  crustaceans,  which  were  the  most  ancient  inhabitants 
of  the  globe,  is  now  found  in  our  seas  :  they  are  absolutely 
struck  out  of  the  catalogue  of  created  beings.1 

1  Although  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  of  years  separate  us  from  the  period 
at  which  the  trilobites  existed,  yet,  by  a  fortunate  accident,  geologists  have  some- 
times met  with  specimens  so  perfect  that  the  delicate  structure  of  the  eyes  could 
be  made  out  in  them  ;  and  it  has  been  shown  that  these  organs  were  constructed 
upon  exactly  the  same  plan  as  those  of  the  crustaceans  which  now  inhabit  our 
seas. 

These  revelations  suffice  to  establish  a  parallel  between  the  extreme  points  of 
creation  ;  and  hence  Buckland,  after  an  examination  of  this  apparatus,  daringly 
painted  the  condition  of  the  globe  at  the  time  when  these  strange  crustaceans  lent 
life  to  it,  "  The  results,"  he  says,  "  arising  from  these  facts  are  not  confined  to 
animal  physiology  ;  they  give  information  also  regarding  the  condition  of  the  an- 
cient sea  and  ancient  atmosphere,  and  the  relations  of  both  these  media  to  light, 
at  that  remote  period  when  the  earliest  marine  animals  were  furnished  with  in- 
struments of  vision,  in  which  the  minute  optical  adaptations  were  the  same  that 


GEOLOGY.  547 

CARBONIFEROUS  PERIOD.  —  Later  on,  the  first  layers  that 
cooled  down  became  covered  with  a  luxuriant  vegetation, 
the  fossilized  remains  of  which  now  constitute  our  coal-beds, 
—  antediluvian  forests,  which  the  genius  of  man  extracts 
from  the  depths  of  the  earth,  to  serve  the  wants  of  industry 
and  his  own  dwellings. 

During  this  period  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe  was 
covered  with  strange  and  dense  forests,  where  proudly 
reigned  a  host  of  plants,  the  representatives  of  which  at 
the  present  day  play  but  a  very  humble  part.  Here  were 
palms  and  bamboos,  there  gigantic  Lycopodia,  which,  now 
humble  creeping  herbaceous  plants,  at  that  time  bore 
straight  stems,  towering  to  a  height  of  eighty  to  a  hun- 
dred feet.  Then  came  the  Lepidodendra,  the  stem  of  which 
reminds  one  of  a  reptile's  scaly  cuirass.  Lastly  came  trees 
of  the  family  of  our  Conifers,  their  boughs  laden  with  fruit. 

These  vast  primeval  forests,  which  the  course  of  ages  was 

impart  the  perception  of  light  to  crustaceans  now  living  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea. 

"  With  respect  to  the  waters  wherein  the  trilobites  maintained  their  existence 
throughout  the  entire  period  of  the  transition  formation,  we  conclude  that  they 
could  not  have  been  that  imaginary  turbid  and  compound  chaotic  fluid,  from  the 
precipitate  of  which  some  geologists  have  supposed  the  materials  of  the  surface  of 
the  earth  to  be  derived,  because  the  structure  of  the  eyes  of  these  animals  is  such 
that  any  kind  of  fluid  in  which  they  could  have  been  efficient  at  the  bottom  must 
have  been  pure  and  transparent  enough  to  allow  the  passage  of  light  to  organs  of 
vision,  the  nature  of  which  is  so  fully  disclosed  by  the  state  of  perfection  in  which 
they  are  preserved. 

"  Regarding  light  itself,  also,  we  learn  from  the  resemblance  of  these  most  an- 
cient organizations  to  existing  eyes  that  the  mutual  relations  of  light  to  the  eye 
and  of  the  eye  to  light  were  the  same  at  the  time  when  crustaceans  endowed  with 
the  faculty  of  vision  were  first  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  primeval  seas  as  at  the 
present  moment." 


548  THE    UNIVERSE. 

to  annihilate,  sprang  up  on  a  heated  and  marshy  soil,  which 
surrounded  the  lofty  trees  with  thick,  compact  masses  of 
herbaceous  aquatic  plants,  intended  to  play  a  great  part  in 
the  formation  of  coal. 

The  luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  coal  period  was  certainly 
favored  by  the  enormous  heat  which  the  terrestrial  crust 
still  preserved,  as  also  by  the  dampness  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  very  probably  by  the  great  abundance  of  carbonic  acid 
which  it  then  contained.1 

Although  a  thick  and  magnificent  mantle  of  foliage  cov- 
ered the  globe,  everything  wore  a  strange,  gloomy  aspect. 
Everywhere  rose  gigantic  horse-tails  (Equiseta)  and  ferns, 
drawing  up  an  exuberance  of  life  from  the  fertile  and  vir- 
gin soil.  The  latter  in  their  aspect  resembled  palms,  and  at 
the  least  breath  of  wind  waved  their  crowns  of  finely-cut 
leaves  like  flexible  plumes  of  feathers.  A  sky  ever  sombre 
and  veiled  oppressed  with  heavy  clouds  the  domes  of  these 
forests ;  a  wan  and  dubious  light  scarcely  made  visible  the 
dark  and  naked  trunks ;  on  all  sides  reigned  a  shadowy  and 
indescribable  hue  of  horror.  This  rich  covering  of  vegeta- 
tion, which  extended  from  pole  to  pole,  was  sad  and  silent, 
as  well  as  strangely  monotonous.  Not  a  single  flower  en- 

1  At  the  present  time  the  atmosphere  only  contains  a  thousandth  part  of  car- 
bonic acid,  whereas,  according  to  Mons.  A.  Brongniart,  there  were  at  the  carbon- 
iferous period  seven  to  eight  parts  in  a  hundred.  This  acid  being  an  indispen- 
sable part  of  the  food  of  plants,  to  which  it  gives  up  all  its  carbon,  its  presence 
easily  explains  the  great  development  of  the  antediluvian  forests  of  this  period, 
and  as  such  a  quantity  of  acid  in  the  air  would  clearly  have  been  fatal  to  animals 
of  a  higher  degree  of  development,  such  as  mammals  and  birds,  so  none  are  met 
with  at  that  time.  Reptiles  and  mammals  only  appeared  when  the  plants  and 
trees,  by  their  absorption  of  the  carbonic  acid  as  food,  had  necessarily  purified  the 
atmosphere  sufficiently  to  allow  of  animal  life  going  on  freely. 


GEOLOGY.  549 

livened  the  foliage,  not  one  edible  fruit  loaded  its  branches. 
The  echoes  remained  absolutely  mute,  and  the  branches 
without  a  sign  of  life ;  for  no  air-breathing  animal  had  as 
yet  appeared  amid  these  savage  scenes  of  the  ancient 
world  ! 

One  might  say,  in  fact,  that  there  was  then  no  animal  life 
to  be  seen,  for  amid  so  many  remains  of  the  coal  flora, 
which  geologists  have  so  admirably  reconstructed,  they 
have  only  met  with  a  few  rare  vestiges  of  one  small  reptile, 
the  Archegosaurus.  This  great  contrast  between  the  rich- 
ness of  the  vegetable  and  penury  of  the  animal  kingdom  is 
explained  by  the  great  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  at  that 
time  mixed  with  the  atmosphere,  which,  though  particu- 
larly favorable  to  the  life  of  plants,  must  have  been  fatal  to 
all  animals  endowed  with  active  respiration.  But  though 
the  atmosphere  was  poisonous,  the  seas,  on  the  contrary, 
uniting  together  all  conditions  most  favorable  to  life,  were 
peopled  with  shelled  molluscs  and  fish. 

After  having  lent  life  to  the  primitive  ages  of  the  globe, 
these  strange  forests  completely  disappeared  in  the  lapse  of 
ages,  and  they  have  now  become  almost  impossible  to  rec- 
ognize, owing  to  the  transformations  they  have  undergone 
in  nature's  immense  subterranean  store-houses. 

There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt  about  the  matter.  It  is 
clearly  the  debris  of  these  antique  forests  of  our  gradually 
cooled-down  planet  that  constitutes  the  coal  of  the  present 
time.  Science,  carrying  its  torch  even  into  the  dark  regions 
from  whence  this  debris  proceeded,  has  discovered  all  its 
constituent  parts.  Amid  the  black  and  gleaming  masses  of 
the  coal  strata  abundant  impressions  have  been  found  of  the 


550  THE    UNIVERSE. 

plants  which  produced  the  antediluvian  combustible,  and 
from  these  primitive  medals  of  creation  we  have  seen 
science  weave  the  history  of  the  dawn  of  terrestrial  veg- 
etation. 

But  by  what  mysterious  phenomena  was  this  extraor- 
dinary transformation  effected  ?  At  first  it  was  thought 
that  the  forests  of  the  coal  era  had  been  overthrown  or 
borne  away  by  the  violence  of  currents,  and  that  their 
trunks,  locked  together  after  having  floated  about  like  im- 
mense rafts,  had  collected  in  creeks,  and  there  become 
changed  into  layers  of  coal. 

But  this  theory,  though  seductive  from  its  simplicity,  is 
inadmissible,  because  the  trunks,  in  spite  of  their  bulk, 
would  yield  only  a  very  thin  layer  of  coal.  M.  Elie  de 
Beaumont,  on  the  other  hand,  thinks  that  it  was  the  com- 
pact, herbaceous  vegetation  enveloping  the  great  plants  of 
the  coal-forests  which  played  the  principal  part  in  the  pro- 
duction of  coal,  and  that  by  its  ceaseless  renewal  and  change 
the  coal  was  produced  by  a  transformation  analogous  to  that 
which  our  aquatic  plants  undergo  when  transformed  into 
turf.  This  theory  offers  a  better  explanation  of  the  abun- 
dance and  thickness  of  the  coal-seams.  We  do  not  exactly 
make  out  the  nature  of  the  chemical  phenomena  which 
must  have  taken  place  during  such  a  fundamental  meta- 
morphosis ;  but  what  is  clear  is  that  this  was  principally 
effected  under  the  influence  of  the  immense  pressure  and 
great  heat  which  the  plants  experienced  during  the  time 
they  were  submerged  under  water,  owing  to  the  subsidence 
of  the  soil  on  which  they  had  lived  and  died. 


GEOLOGY.  551 

CHAPTER  IV. 

SECONDARY    EPOCH. 

IN  this  epoch  everything  strongly  contrasted  with  that 
which  preceded  it.  In  the  latter  the  vegetable  kingdom 
predominated  during  its  whole  course  to  an  extraordinary 
extent ;  in  this  the  animal  kingdom  seems  to  have  absorbed 
all  the  vital  forces  of  the  globe. 

The  secondary  strata  were  peopled  by  a  fauna  altogether 
new,  and  more  and  more  exuberant.  The  reptiles  astonish 
us  by  their  number,  their  gigantic  size,  and  their  unwonted 
forms,  —  antique  and  incomprehensible  inhabitants  of  the 
globe,  reproduced  in  all  their  parts  to  our  wondering  eyes 
by  the  genius  of  a  Cuvier  and  an  Owen !  It  is  to  this  epoch 
that  the  name  of  the  Reptilian  Age  may  be  most  appropri- 
ately given,  so  completely  did  these  creatures  then  pre- 
dominate on  the  globe ;  it  was  the  age  of  the  Ichthyosauri, 
the  Plesiosauri,  and  the  Mosasauri,  —  a  throng  of  frightful 
lizards,  compared  to  which  our  own  are  mere  pigmies,  arid 
which  spread  terror  through  the  antediluvian  seas. 

At  this  period  we  see  innumerable  molluscs,  the  shells  of 
which  have  been  carefully  preserved  by  the  rocks.  Some 
belong  to  genera  which  are  no  longer  met  with  in  our  pres- 
ent seas ;  all  to  species  which  are  absolutely  unknown  at 
the  present  day. 

Already,  at  the  time  we  speak  of,  the  previous  extreme 
heat  of  the  earth  had  declined.  The  sky  had  grown  clearer, 
and  the  atmosphere  become  less  heavy  ;  still  there  was 


552  THE    UNIVERSE. 

a  decidedly  high  temperature,  which,  combined  with  great 
humidity,  favored  the  luxuriant  vegetation  which  developed 
itself  vigorously  under  the  influence  of  the  luminous  bright- 
ness of  the  sun. 

The  more  ancient  of  the  secondary  rocks  have  interested 
geologists  on  account  of  the  innumerable  remains  of  shells 
which  they  contain,  and  owing  to  which  they  have  been 
named  conchylian.1 

At  the  time  when  these  strata  were  being  deposited  lived 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  reptiles  that  we  know  of.  It 
was  a  kind  of  monster  toad,  so  enormous  as  to  equal  an  ox 
in  size,  and  the  teeth  of  which,  resembling  the  windings  of 
a  maze,  have  procured  it  the  name  of  Labyrinthodon.  The 
strata  of  this  ancient  epoch  have  contributed  to  teach  us 
some  even  of  the  anatomical  details  of  this  animal,  having 
preserved  the  impressions  of  its  footsteps.  On  the  same 
beds  have  been  observed  the  prints  of  three-toed  feet,  con- 
sidered by  some  geologists  as  traces  of  the  first  birds  that 
animated  our  globe. 

To  this  period  belong  the  Jurassic  strata,  which  play  so 
important  a  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Jura  Mountains, 
from  whence  they  derive  their  name.  This  formation  is  rich 
in  animal  fossils,  which  give  it  quite  a  special  character.  It 
may  be  divided  into  two  sections,  —  the  Lias  and  the 
Oolite. 

The  liassic  seas  fed  numbers  of  animals,  and  their  deposits 
are  distinctly  characterized  by  the  gryphseas,  ammonites, 

1  This  era  most  probably  means  here  the  coarse,  shelly  limestone  of  the  forest 
marble,  and  the  great  oolite  ;  possibly  also  including  the  muschelkalk  of  German 
geologists.  —  TR. 


"8 

P- 

B 

5. 


GEOLOGY.  555 

belemnites,  plagiostomata,  and  encrinites,  which  are  pecul- 
iar to  it.  But  what  impresses  a  special  stamp  upon  it  is 
the  presence  of  strange  marine  reptiles,  the  remains  of 
which  are  found  in  it  remarkably  well  preserved. 

At  this  time  lived  the  Ichthyosauri,  veritable  fish-lizards, 
as  is  indicated  by  their  name.  These  reptiles,  which  must 
have  spread  terror  through  the  ancient  seas,  attained  a 
length  of  about  thirty-three  feet.  Their  whole  organization 
is  a  series  of  paradoxes.  With  the  vertebrae  of  the  fish  they 
have  the  fins  of  a  dolphin  ;  and  while  armed  with  the  teeth 
of  a  crocodile  they  display  an  optic  globe  which  is  without 
any  parallel.  This  eye,  the  bulk  of  which  was  sometimes  as 
large  as  a  man's  head,  was  protected  in  front  by  a  frame- 


220.  Head  of  Ichthyosaurus :  Ichthyosaurus  communis. 

work  of  bony  plates,  and  was  beyond  all  doubt  the  most 
powerful  and  perfect  visual  apparatus  ever  seen  in  creation. 
Hence  Buckland  maintains  that  the  Ichthyosauri  could  dis- 
cover their  prey  at  the  greatest  as  well  as  the  shortest  dis- 
tances ;  in  the  profound  darkness  of  night,  and  in  the  depths 
of  the  ocean,  —  the  delicate  structure  of  the  organ  of  vision 
being  protected  from  the  pressure  of  the  water  and  the 
shock  of  the  waves  by  the  osseous  buckler  which  surrounds 
the  transparent  cornea. 

Naturalists  have  investigated  the  remains  of  these  ani- 


556  THE    UNIVERSE. 

mals  with  such  skill  that,  in  spite  of  the  destruction  of  the 
softer  organs  thousands  of  years  ago,  they  have  been  ena- 
bled to  make  out  the  structure  of  the  intestinal  tube  !  It 
has  been  shown  that  this  was  formed  exactly  like  an  Archi- 
median  screw,  and  was  strictly  analogous  to  that  of  our 
sharks  and  rays.  At  the  same  time  the  nature  of  the  food 
of  these  voracious  repfiles  has  been  discovered.  These  two 
facts  were  revealed  by  an  examination  of  the  faeces  or  cop- 
rolites  of  Ichthyosauri,  which  are  found  in  large  quanti- 
ties in  some  localities.  Their  form,  moulded  on  that  of  the 
intestine,  showed  the  structure  quite  clearly ;  while  the 
petrified  remains  of  food  which  were  discovered  proved  that 
these  animals  devoured  an  enormous  quantity  of  fish,  and 
even  occasionally  their  own  species ;  for  small  Ichthyosauri 
have  been  met  with  in  the  bellies  of  the  large  ones. 

With  these  terrible  dominators  of  the  Jurassic  seas  lived 
the  Plesiosauri,  reptiles  equally  strange,  and  which  Cuvier 
considered  as  the  most  abnormal  races  of  the  ancient  world. 
They  were  remarkable  for  their  turtle-like  fins,  and  es- 
pecially for  the  thinness  and  extreme  length  of  their  ser- 
pent-like necks.  The  arrangement  of  the  skeleton  in  the 
Plesiosaurus  led  Mr.  Conybeare  to  think  that  it  swam  or- 
dinarily on  the  surface  of  the  waves,  curving  back  its  long 
flexible  neck  like  a  swan,  and  darting  forward  with  it  from 
time  to  time  in  order  to  seize  the  fish  which  approached  it. 
Their  paws,  analogous  to  those  of  the  sea-turtles,  induced 
this  learned  Englishman  to  think  also  that  the  Plesiosauri, 
like  these  reptiles,  sometimes  issued  from  the  sea,  and  sought 
refuge  amid  the  plants,  in  order  to  evade  their  dangerous 
enemies,  which  were  beyond  all  doubt  the  Ichthyosauri. 


221.  Gnomes  of  the  German  Legends  laying  bare  the  Skeleton  of  an  Ichthyosaurus. 


GEOLOGY.  559 

If  any  of  the  animals  which  the  remote  periods  of  the 
globe  present  to  our  notice  are  to  be  looked  upon  as  mon- 
sters, we  submit  that  in  this  respect  the  first  place  is  due  to 
the  Pterodactyli,  which  remind  one  of  the  ancient  dragons 
of  legendary  tradition.  Their  structure  is  so  paradoxical 
that  one  does  not  really  know  where  to  place  them  ;  they 
were  alternately  looked  upon  as  birds,  mammals,  and  rep- 
tiles. De  Blainville,  embarrassed,  as,  indeed,  all  the  learned 
world  were,  formed  a  separate  class  for  them  in  the  animal 
kingdom.1 

The  aspect  of  the  pterodactyl  was  necessarily  very 
strange.  When  naturalists  tried  to  restore  their  frames,  the 
figures  they  produced  were  more  like  the  offspring  of  some 
diseased  imagination  than  realities.  They  were  really  rep- 
tiles furnished  with  large  wings,  and  resembled  enormous 
bats,  having  a  very  pointed  head  supported  on  a  slender 
neck.  The  smaller  species  certainly  lived  on  insects,  for 
the  remains  of  these  have  been  found  among  fossilized 
skeletons.2 

Certain  naturalists,  among  them  Bory  de  Saint-Vincent, 
have  been  almost  inclined  to  think  that  these  fantastic  ani- 
mals may  have  suggested  the  first  idea  of  those  images  of 
dragons  so  frequently  represented  on  the  monuments  pro- 
duced in  the  infancy  of  art,  or  whose  existence  is  affirmed 

1  There  were  air-cavities  in  the  bones  of  the  pterodactyls,  and  the  coracoid  pro- 
cess, the  scapula,  and  the  broad  sternum  with  its  median  crest  allied  them  in 
anatomical  points  to  birds.  —  Popular  Science  Review,  vol.  vii.,  p.  242.  —  TR. 

2  To  these  amphibious  reptiles  must  now  be  added  several  others.     Three  new 
genera  have  been  recently  discovered  in  the  Castlecomer  coal-measures  in  Kil- 
kenny.    Remains  of  another  new  genus,  the  Pliosaurus,  presented  to  the  British 
Museum,  show  that  the  skull  of  this  creature  was  nearly  five  feet  long.  —  TR. 


560 


THE    UNIVERSE. 


by  inspired  writers.  This  savant  supposes  that  some  ptero- 
dactyls, having  survived  the  era  of  general  extinction,  may 
have  been  contemporary  with  the  first  men  ;  that  these, 
struck  with  their  strange  appearance,  possibly  preserved  a 


1.  Turrilites  catenata,  Proiogcea. 

3.  Terebratula. 

5.  Striated  Nautilus :  Nautilus  striatus. 


222.  Fossil  Shells  of  the  Secondary  Period. 

2.  Oyster:  Ostrcea  columba  (Lamarck). 

4.  Mammillary  Ammonite. 

6.  Curved  Gryphaea:   Gryphcea  incurva. 


few  likenesses  of  them  among  their  imperfect  hieroglyphic 
designs ;  and  that  mythological  tradition  afterwards  more 
or  less  distorted  the  type. 

The  second  section  of  the  Jurassic  period  often  displays 


GEOLOGY.  561 

in  its  strata  small  yellowish  sub-globular  concretions,  re- 
sembling in  their  appearance  fish-eggs,  which  has  procured 
for  it  the  name  of  Oolite. 

The  great  feature  of  this  period  is  the  first  appearance  of 
mammals.  The  only  vestiges  found  of  them  are  two  little 
jaws,  belonging  to  species  very  like  the  opossum,  so  well 
known  from  the  habit  of  the  female  of  carrying  her  young 
family  in  an  abdominal  sack,  or  bearing  them  on  her  back.1 

The  oolite  abounds  in  molluscs,  polypoids,  and  fossil  plants. 
Insects  and  crustaceans  are  also  found  in  it. 

The  last  group  of  the  secondary  strata,  the  cretaceous  or 
chalk  formation,  plays  an  important  part  in  geology :  partly 
owing  to  its  depth,  partly  to  the  great  extent  over  which 
it  is  found.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  it  owes  its 
name  to  the  chalk  (carbonate  of  lime),  of  which  it  almost 
entirely  consists.  The  cretaceous  strata  form  many  of  our 
mountain  chains. 

During  this  period  both  land  and  sea  appear  to  have  been 
still  under  the  domination  of  reptiles  of  colossal  size.  The 
Mosasaurus,  long  called  the  "  great  Maestricht  animal,"  an 
immense  marine  lizard,  attained  a  length  of  more  than 
sixty-five  feet,  whilst  contemporary  species  are  not  more 
than  a  yard  long.  It  must  have  spread  terror  on  all  sides. 

1  The  oolite,  which  produced  the  famous  lithographic  slate  of  Solenhofen, 
yielded  the  first  bird,  the  skeleton  of  which  has  been  so  far  preserved  that  its 
nature  could  be  clearly  decided  upon.  This  is  the  Archaeopteryx,  now  in  the 
British  Museum.  It  exhibits  a  closer  approximation  to  reptilian  structure  than 
any  modern  bird.  The  tail  is  very  long,  and  in  this  respect  more  like  that  of  a 
reptile  than  that  of  a  bird.  Two  digits  of  the  manus  have  curved  claws,  much 
stronger  than  those  of  any  existing  bird.  —  Popular  Science  Review,  vol.  vii.,  p. 
241.  — TR. 


562  THE    UNIVERSE. 

With  the  cretaceous  seas  were  extinguished  all  those  races 
of  strange  reptiles  to  whose  voracity  the  exuberant  brood 
of  ocean  fell  an  easy  prey.  But  at  the  same  time  their 
mission  was  now  intrusted  to  voracious  sharks  of  enormous 
size,  which  for  the  first  time  appeared  in  the  waters  of  the 
globe. 

In  the  same  seas  those  families  of  microscopic  Foraminif- 
era,  the  debris  of  which,  as  we  have  seen,  constitute  large 
mountains,  swarmed  alongside  of  the  gigantic  Nautili  arid 
Ammonites. 

To  use  the  happy  expression  of  M.  L.  Figuier,  "  the  state 
of  the  vegetation  in  the  cretaceous  period  might  be  looked 
upon  as  the  vestibule  of  the  vegetation  of  our  days."  The 
dicotyledons  augment  in  number,  whilst  the  ferns  and  in- 
ferior plants  lose  their  supremacy  little  by  little,  and  are  re- 
placed by  trees  analogous  to  those  that  now  afford  us  their 
shade. 

But  if  the  forests  of  this  epoch  already  approached  ours 
in  the  character  of  their  vegetation,  they  differed  very 
widely  as  to  the  nature  of  their  inhabitants.  Where  now 
we  only  meet  inoffensive  lizards  a  few  inches  long  playing 
on  the  sward,  there  were  then  creatures  of  this  class  which 
dragged  through  these  solitudes  their  vast  frames,  forty- 
five  to  fifty  feet  in  length.  Such  were  the  Megalosauri  and 
the  Iguanodons.1 

1  Neither  the  Iguanodon  nor  the  Megalosaurus  has  as  yet  been  found  in  Eng- 
land of  such  proportions  as  these.  Owen  computed  the  length  of  the  Iguanodon 
at  thirty-five  feet,  but  a  thigh-bone  was  found  just  west  of  Sandown  Fort  which 
clearly  belonged  to  a  larger  animal,  one  possibly  forty-five  feet  in  length.  —  TR. 


GEOLOGY.  563 

CHAPTER   V. 

TERTIARY    EPOCH. 

WE  have  just  seen  unrolled  before  our  eyes  a  phase  of 
creation  in  which  all  animal  life  was  under  the  dominion  of 
a  legion  of  frightful  reptiles.  In  the  tertiary  epoch  these 
had  disappeared  into  the  abysses  of  the  globe,  and  peaceful 
and  luxuriant  nature  was  animated  for  the  first  time  with 
varied  races  of  inoffensive  mammals,  which  spread  over  the 
whole  earth  from  pole  to  pole.  Among  the  remains  of  these 
animals,  dug  out  of  the  soil  and  reconstructed  by  the  skill 
of  the  anatomist,  some  astonish  us  by  their  singular  forms, 
others  by  their  colossal  size.  The  creation  of  the  present 
time  seems  to  have  quite  degenerated,  when  compared  to 
these  giants  of  the  animal  kingdom  !  Hence,  looking  at 
its  predominant  feature,  this  epoch  might  be  called  the 
epoch  of  the  mammals.  They  predominate  throughout. 

In  the  course  of  ages  the  crust  of  the  earth,  augmenting 
in  thickness  as  it  steadily  cooled  down,  had  become  compact 
enough  to  intercept  the  central  heat ;  and  hence  the  solar 
influence,  gaining  the  predominance,  now  began  to  mark 
out  the  separate  climates. 

The  tertiary  fauna  displayed  extreme  richness,  and  among 
the  animals  it  offers  in  profusion  the  list  of  those  belong- 
ing to  contemporary  genera  is  visibly  increased.  We  find 
monkeys,  bats,  genets,  marmots ;  and  now  for  the  first  time 
cetaceans  appeared  in  the  seas. 

But  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  animals  of  that  day 


564  THE    UNIVERSE. 

were  the  Palseotheria  and  Anoplotheria,  curious  pachy- 
derms, which  belong  solely  to  this  epoch,  and  vanish  utterly 
with  it. 

The  Palseotheria,  with  their  heavy  forms  and  small  trunk, 
resembled  our  tapirs.  According  to  Cuvier,  they  lived,  like 
them,  on  the  banks  of  rivers  and  lakes,  as  is  shown  by  the 
remains  of  lacustrine  and  fluviatile  animals  scattered  amid 
their  calcareous  winding-sheets.  These  mammals,  remark- 
able for  having  three  toes  on  each  foot,  were  sometimes  as 
big  as  a  horse,  as  was  the  case  with  the  great  Palseothe- 
rium ;  others  scarcely  reached  that  of  a  hare. 

The  Anoplotheria  were  of  more  slender  make,  and  had 
long,  powerful  tails.  According  to  Cuvier,  the  Anoplothe- 
rium  commune  had  some  analogy  with  the  otter,  but  was  of 
larger  size.  This  naturalist  thought  that  it  dived  with  ease, 
in  order  to  seek  for  the  roots  and  succulent  stems  which 
composed  its  food. 

The  remains  of  the  Palseotheria  and  Anoplotheria  abound 
in  the  gypsum  of  the  quarries  near  Paris,  and  there  are 
some  in  which  they  lie  so  thick  that  every  blow  of  the  pick- 
axe exhumes  some  of  their  remains  from  these  antediluvian 
charnel-houses.  This  fact  evidently  proves  that  these  mam- 
mals lived  in  dense  herds  near  the  banks  of  the  ancient 
fresh  waters  of  the  Paris  basin. 

It  is  in  this  tertiary  epoch  that  we  also  discover  the  bulk- 
iest terrestrial  mammals,  the  Dinotheria,  —  in  shape  analo- 
gous to  the  elephant,  but  much  larger. 

An  animal  which  has  been  an  object  of  interest  to  every 
one,  the  great  Mastodon,  belongs  to  the  same  period.  It 
was  at  first  called  the  elephant  of  Ohio,  on  account  of  its 


GEOLOGY.  567 

shape  and  the  place  where  it  was  discovered  ;  but  after- 
wards, as  its  teeth  were  found  to  be  provided  with  strong 
projecting  elevations,  a  separate  genus  was  formed  for  it. 

Although  of  such  vast  size,  the  remains  of  this  species  are 
extremely  common  in  Canada  and  Louisiana.  Along  the 
river  of  the  Great  Osages  are  found  skeletons  almost  com- 
plete. Sometimes  mastodons  have  been  exhumed  entire 
and  standing  upright,  in  places  where  they  seem  to  have 
been  caught  alive  ;  some  appear  to  have  been  so  suddenly 
overtaken  by  the  alluvial  floods  that  we  still  find  in  their 
stomachs  the  food  which  they  had  just  swallowed.  The 
nature  of  this  food  has  been  made  out :  it  consisted  of  herbs 
and  small  branches  of  trees ;  and  thus  science  has  again 
shown  on  what  one  of  the  most  ancient  creatures  of  the 
globe  used  to  feed  ! 

Towards  the  same  time  we  find  the  Glyptodons,  huge 
armadilloes,  which  were  more  than  double  the  size  of  those 
living  in  our  days ;  and  then  the  Megatheria,  a  kind  of 
monstrous  sloths,  which  were  as  large  as  elephants,  while 
those  of  our  epoch  are  scarcely  the  size  of  a  dog. 

Lastly  came  the  frightful  Sivatherium,  found  in  India, 
and  to  which  this  name,  derived  from  that  of  the  god  Siva, 
worshipped  there,  has  been  given  in  consequence.  This 
animal,  as  Owen  tells  us,  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  gigan- 
tic and  extraordinary  of  the  extinct  races  known  to  us.  It 
was  a  stag  as  large  as  an  elephant,  its  head  being  sur- 
mounted with  four  horns. 

In  the  tertiary  epoch  we  meet  with  few  reptiles,  but  one 
of  them  enjoys  a  great  celebrity.  It  was  a  gigantic  sala- 
mander, which  the  dictum  of  a  theological  naturalist  caused 


568 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


to  be  long  considered  as  an  incontestable  relic  from  the 
hecatomb  of  the  biblical  deluge. 


224.  Fossil  Shells  of  the  Tertiary  Epoch. 


1.  Gigantic  Cerithium.  2.  Bichambered  Helix. 

3.  Turritella  imbricata  (Lam.).  4.  Rostellaria  macroptera  (Lam.). 

5.  Rostellaria  columbata  (Lam.).  6.  Cancellaria  cancellata  (Bonn.). 

7.  Cerithium  thiara  (Lam.). 

During  this  phase  of  creation  of  which  we  have  sketched 
the  history,  new  races  of  molluscs  arose  on  all  sides,  while 
the  ancient  ones  perished,  to  return  no  more.  The  ammo- 
nites, formerly  so  numerous,  disappeared  altogether,  whilst 


GEOLOGY.  569 

tiny  nummulites,  the  size  of  lentils,  were  forming  imposing 
chains  of  mountains  in  different  parts  of  the  globe.  The 
miliolites,  infinitely  smaller,  multiplied  at  such  a  prodigious 
rate  that  they  deposited  vast  strata,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
are  nowadays  quarried  to  build  our  dwellings  with.1  It 
was  also  during  this  period  of  organic  evolution  that  the 
seas  of  the  Paris  basin  abounded  in  such  rich  deposits  of 
shells,  in  those  places  where  the  great  city  was  one  day  to 
parade  its  splendor.  It  is  amongst  these  that  we  discover 
the  gigantic  Cerithium  (Cerithium  giganteum,  Lam.),  which 
attains  a  length  of  nearly  twenty  inches,  and  a  host  of  other 
shells,  in  the  most  marvellous  state  of  preservation,  some  of 
which  are  represented  in  the  preceding  engraving. 

The  vegetation  of  the  tertiary  epoch  is  remarkable  for 
the  approach  it  makes  towards  ours.  M.  A.  Brongniart  ex- 
presses himself  as  follows.  "  Looked  at  as  seen  in  Europe," 
says  this  learned  botanist,  "  this  vegetation  displays,  in  par- 
ticular, a  great  analogy  with  the  present  flora  of  the  tem- 
perate regions  of  the  northern  hemisphere." 

We  are,  in  fact,  astonished  to  find  in  the  ancient  strata 
of  this  epoch  unimpeachable  remains  of  our  present  flora. 
Nymphaese  allowed  their  beautiful  flowers  to  float  on  the 
surface  of  the  tranquil  waters  of  the  new  world,  whilst  the 
Potamogetons,  or  pond-weeds,  displayed  their  leaves  in  the 
depths.  Lastly,  we  find  here  also  Coniferae,  oaks,  elms,  and 
other  different  contemporary  genera. 

1  See  page  33. 


570  THE   UNIVERSE. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

QUATERNARY    OR   POST-TERTIARY    PERIOD. 

THE  first  phases  of  this  epoch  are  connected  with  the 
tertiary  period,  and  it  is  during  one  of  those  which  follow 
that  we  finally  see  man  appear,  —  man,  whose  supreme  es- 
sence shows  like  a  grand  crowning  of  the  work  of  creation. 

The  post-tertiary  is,  then,  the  epoch  to  which  we  be- 
long, and  nearly  all  the  creatures  which  serve  to  enliven 
it  are  those  we  see  at  present  contributing  their  share  to 
beautify  animated  nature.  But  this  period,  which  perhaps 
contains  many  myriads  of  years,  was  far  from  being  so  tran- 
quil as  many  geologists  would  have  it.  Though  we  no 
longer  see  the  immense  seas  which  rolled  their  untamed 
waves  from  pole  to  pole,  we  find  great  deluges,  the  up- 
heaval of  mountain  chains,  and  horrible  invasions  of  ice, 
which  waste  or  engulf  everything  living. 

This  last  epoch  abounds  less  in  new  animal  forms  than 
those  which  preceded  it ;  but  the  creatures  which  were 
brought  forth  at  this  time  are  often  remarkable  for  their 
vast  size,  their  number,  and  the  extent  to  which  they  were 
disseminated.  In  every  part  of  the  globe  their  vestiges, 
disinterred  by  patience  and  learning,  prove  the  truth  of 
these  assertions. 

We  have  seen  invisible  antediluvian  Infusoria,  heaped  up 
into  mountains  by  the  waters  of  the  globe,  exist  through  a 
cycle  of  ages,  and  present  themselves  to  our  astonished  gaze 
with  all  the  details  of  their  organization.  In  the  diluvium, 


GEOLOGY.  571 

on  the  contrary,  we  find  a  population  of  colossi  belonging 
to  the  ancient  world.  Elephants,  mastodons,  rhinoceroses, 
and  hippopotami  are  spread  over  regions  far  from  where 
they  now  live.  France  itself  supported  numerous  cohorts 
of  them,  and  they  existed  in  the  midst  of  the  ices  of 
Siberia. 

In  antediluvian  times  this  latter  country  was  even  peo- 
pled with  such  herds  of  elephants  and  rhinoceroses  that 
travellers  say  the  soil  of  some  islands  in  the  Icy  Sea  is  at 
present  literally  packed  with  their  bones. 

Art,  which  from  the  remotest  epoch  has  employed  so 
much  ivory  for  ornament  and  statuary,  finds  without  any 
search  a  rich  mine  of  this  precious  substance  in  the  teeth  of 
the  fossil  elephants,  which  abound  in  these  ancient  charnel- 
houses.  At  present  the  north  of  Asia  furnishes  an  enor- 
mous quantity  for  commercial  purposes.  The  ivory  mines 
of  New  Siberia  and  of  the  island  of  Loochoo  are  so  rich  in 
these  debris  that  their  soil  is  absolutely  a  mass  of  sand,  ice, 
and  elephant  tusks.  Every  time  there  is  a  storm  the  waves 
throw  up  a  great  number  of  these,  some  of  which  weigh  as 
much  as  100  kilogrammes  (233  Ibs.  avoirdupois). 

The  richness  of  these  cemeteries  in  the  arctic  regions,  and 
the  colossal  size  of  the  remains  which  they  inclose,  surpass 
everything  that  can  be  imagined.  The  Siberians  and  Tar- 
tars are  themselves  struck  with  them.  One  of  their  myths 
assigns  them  to  subterranean  animals  which  abhorred  the 
light.  In  relation  to  this  subject,  it  is  curious  to  observe 
that  in  several  very  ancient  Chinese  books  mention  is  also 
made  of  these  fossil  elephants ;  for  it  must  be  these  animals 
that  are  referred  to.  In  the  "  Ly-Ki,"  a  treatise  on  cere- 


572  THE   UNIVERSE. 

mony,  written  500  years  before  the  Christian  era,  it  is  said 
that  there  exists  an  animal  called  Tin-Schu,  or  the  mouse, 
which  hides  itself,  which  lives  in  obscure  caves,  and  is  of 
the  size  of  a  buffalo  ;  the  least  ray  of  sun  or  moonlight  kills 
it  instantly. 

Klaproth  relates  that  a  similar  fable  is  met  with  in  Mant- 
choo  manuscripts.  It  is  said  there  that  this  colossal  mouse 
attains  the  size  of  an  elephant ! 

Amongst  the  most  remarkable  discoveries  of  recent  times 
must  be  ranked  that  of  one  of  these  elephants  of  the  ex- 
treme north,  which  was  found  by  some  fishermen  in  the  ice 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Lena  in  1799.  Its  flesh,  enveloped 
in  a  block  of  ice,  had  been  preserved  through  many  thou- 
sands and  perhaps  millions  of  years !  The  bears  and  dogs 
flocked  thither  to  make  an  antediluvian  repast  off  it.  Al- 
most the  whole  skeleton  of  this  animal  was  saved,  and  it 
may  now  be  seen  in  the  museum  of  St.  Petersburg. 

The  human  mind,  face  to  face  with  all  these  gigantic 
races,  engulfed  by  the  latest  telluric  convulsions,  turns  back 
to  search  amid  their  remains,  striving  to  penetrate  into  the 
cause  of  these  grand  disasters. 

At  one  of  the  epochs  nearest  to  us,  when  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  soil  which  we  inhabit,  lighted  by  a  radiant  sun, 
was  covered  only  with  splendid  forests  and  magnificent 
prairies,  in  the  midst  of  which  wandered  troops  of  ele- 
phants, mastodons,  and  rhinoceroses,  all  at  once  the  whole 
of  this  exuberance  of  life  disappeared  in  one  common  ship- 
wreck. A  horrible  mantle  of  snow  and  ice  covered  all 
northern  Europe,  and  extended  its  folds  even  to  the  plains 
of  Germany.  Overpowered  by  the  cold,  all  those  great 


GEOLOGY.  573 

races  succumbed  and  were  buried  beneath  this  grim  wind- 
ing-sheet ;  a  luminary  dim  and  pale  alone  lighted  up  these 
lifeless  solitudes,  and  the  silence  of  death  reigned  every- 
where. 

What  was  the  first  cause  of  these  unexpected  phenomena 
of  this  period,  justly  called  the  glacial,  which  swept  over 
the  globe,  formerly  so  heated  ?  It  will  perhaps  long  re- 
main unknown,  but  its  ravages  have  left  everywhere,  in- 
delible traces.  The  waves  of  this  immense  sea  of  ice,  roll- 
ing down  the  mountains,  tore  off  the  projecting  portions, 
bore  them  away  in  their  movement,  and  scattered  them 
everywhere  on  their  passage.  In  this  way  numerous  frag- 
ments from  the  loftiest  peaks  of  Scandinavia  were  trans- 
ported to  the  plains  of  Germany  and  Novogorod  ;  others, 
violently  torn  away  from  the  summits  of  the  Alps,  were 
strewed  over  the  slopes  of  Jura. 

Up  to  the  present  time  geologists  had  supposed  that  these 
fragments  of  rocks,  these  erratic  blocks,  as  they  are  called, 
which  are  met  with  far  from  the  mountains  of  which,  as 
their  structure  shows,  they  once  formed  part,  were  trans- 
ported by  the  violent  action  of  the  waters,  and  that  they 
had  been  carried  away  by  the  waves  of  deluges.  Agassiz, 
in  his  work  on  "  Glaciers,"  has  shown  that  this  hypothesis 
is  inadmissible,  and  that  to  the  great  movements  of  the 
seas  of  ice  must  be  attributed  the  transport  of  rocks  which 
we  often  find  far  from  the  spot  where  they  were  formed. 

It  is  to  this  severe  cold,  which  prevailed  over  a  large  part 
of  Europe,  that  we  must  refer  the  great  hecatomb  of  those 
myriads  of  elephants,  mastodons,  and  rhinoceroses,  which 
formerly  lent  life  to  every  part  of  France,  Germany,  and 


574  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Italy,  and  of  which  their  soil  displays  such  numerous  ves- 
tiges on  every  side. 

The  cause  was  clearly  sudden,  for  if  all  these  animals  had 
not  been  frozen  as  soon  as  they  were  killed,  different  agents 
would  have  dispersed  their  remains,  whilst,  on  the  contrary, 
we  often  find  entire  skeletons  on  the  spot  where  they  had 
expired.  As  we  have  just  said,  elephants  have  even  been 
discovered  contained  in  the  ice,  and  still  covered  with  skin 
and  the  long  and  extraordinary  hair  of  which  they  possessed 
a  thick  covering  ! 

In  the  post- tertiary  epoch  other  events  again  greatly  dis- 
turbed the  globe  :  these  were  the  mighty  deluges,  which 
poured  in  tumultous  torrents  over  its  surface,  and  deposited 
abundance  of  de'bris  on  it.  Hence  these  strata  are  known 
by  the  name  of  diluvium. 

But  although  an  attentive  study  of  the  earth  points  out 
to  us  with  great  accuracy  the  succession  of  its  epochs,  all 
the  power  of  modern  science  is  inadequate  to  say  what 
space  of  time  these  great  phases  endured,  and  how  many 
years  back  we  must  place  all  these  deluges,  these  cataclysms, 
and  lastly  the  creation  of  man. 

Notwithstanding  the  apparent  youth  of  the  new  continent, 
some  geologists  assign  a  very  remote  period  to  the  great 
shock  which  gave  it  birth  by  rending  the  globe  almost  from 
pole  to  pole.  One  of  the  most  learned  men  whom  England 
loves  to  honor,  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  resting  his  arguments 
upon  authorities  of  great  weight,  maintains  that  the  Missis- 
sippi has  run  in  its  present  bed  more  than  100,000  years  ; 
and  Dr.  B.  Dowler,  who  shares  this  view,  asserts,  from  ob- 
servations on  vegetable  physiology  and  the  examination  of 


GEOLOGY  575 

some  pottery  and  certain  Indian  burying-places,  that  the 
delta  of  this  great  river  has  been  inhabited  by  man  for 
more  than  50,000  years ! 

On  the  other  hand,  G  Cuvier  makes  creation  much  more 
recent,  and  does  not  date  the  appearance  of  man  further 
back  than  tradition.  According  to  this  illustrious  zoologist, 
the  history  of  the  human  race  attests  that  man  has  not 
ruled  over  the  surface  of  the  globe  for  more  than  a  very 
limited  number  of  years. 

The  Hebrew  nation  is  the  only  one  which  possesses  an- 
nals written  before  the  reign  of  Cyrus.  Homer,  the  first 
of  poets,  and  Hesiod  his  contemporary,  lived  about  2800 
years  ago.  Herodotus,  who  was  the  first  profane  historian, 
wrote  about  2300  years  before  our  time. 

From  national  pride,  the  inhabitants  of  India  and  of 
Egypt  boasted  that  their  origin  was  lost  in  the  darkness 
of  ages ;  and  in  order  to  gain  credit  for  their  recitals,  they 
often  interwove  fables  invented  by  the  Magi  or  Brahmins, 
whom  many  reasons  led  to  falsify  history  ! 

Among  the  former,  the  Yedas,  or  sacred  books,  which 
they  assert  were  revealed  by  Brahma  in  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  world,  scarcely  go  back  farther  than  3200  years. 
The  works  on  astronomy  of  this  nation,  and  the  tables  of  the 
state  of  the  heavens,  which  were  thought  to  be  of  such  vast 
antiquity,  have,  on  the  contrary,  been  shown  to  be  quite 
modern.  It  has  been  discovered  that  they  were  antedated. 
The  Brahmins  boldly  announced  that  the  most  ancient  of 
these  astronomical  tables  had  been  compiled  more  than 
20,000,000  years  ago.  For  a  brief  space  of  time  men  were 
deceived  by  their  assurance  and  the  authority  of  Bailly;  but 


576  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Laplace  proved  that  their  calculations  had  been  made  after 
the  events,  and,  moreover,  that  they  were  false.  Bentley 
even  asserted  that  they  were  composed  only  700  years  ago. 

The  Egyptians,  though  less  pretentious,  nevertheless  car- 
ried back  the  origin  of  their  nation  to  a  period  much  more 
remote  than  is  consistent  with  fact.  When  Herodotus  vis- 
ited their  country,  the  priests  told  him  that  they  possessed  a 
history  which  dated  back  11, 340  years;  and  in  order  to 
give  a  semblance  of  veracity  to  their  recitals,  they  added 
that  during  this  space  of  time  the  sun  had  twice  risen  near 
the  horizon  where  it  sets. 

The  cyclopean  monuments,  the  vastness  of  which  aston- 
ishes us,  seem  to  be  the  result  of  labors  which  belong  to  the 
infancy  of  society.  The  almost  shapeless  stones  of  which 
they  are  composed,  and  the  enormous  proportions  of  their 
architecture,  which  in  no  way  approaches  that  of  the  Greeks, 
have  led  authors  to  ascribe  the  execution  of  these  monu- 
ments to  the  first  men  who  inhabited  the  earth ;  and  some 
of  the  learned,  exaggerating  their  antiquity,  have  regarded 
them  as  anterior  to  the  deluge.  But  these  vast  construc- 
tions, more  extraordinary  for  their  mass  than  for  the  taste 
displayed  in  their  construction,  seem  to  have  been  reared  by 
a  sea-faring  people  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  the  sea. 
Although  there  is  some  difference  of  opinion  among  the 
learned  as  to  the  epoch  to  which  they  belong,  everything 
seems  to  prove  that  they  were  erected  by  the  Phoenicians. 

Astronomical  monuments  support  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race  still  less.  The  famous  zodiac  of  Denderah,  to 
which  Dupuis  accords  an  antiquity  of  15,000  years,  is  con- 
sidered by  the  astronomer  Delambre  as  later  than  the  epoch 


GEOLOGY.  577 

of  Alexander,  and,  according  to  Biot,  represents  a  state  of 
the  heavens  which  appeared  700  years  before  Christ.  Be- 
sides, the  Egyptian  temple  in  which  this  singular  zodiac  was 
discovered  was  built  during  the  Roman  rule,  as  is  proved 
by  an  inspection  of  the  hieroglyphics,  and  even  by  an  in- 
scription consecrating  this  sanctuary  to  the  welfare  of  the 
emperor  Tiberius. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  reasons,  which,  besides,  are  only 
derived  from  a  civilized  state,  the  opinion  of  G.  Cuvier  has 
been  assailed  by  the  recent  conquests  of  science. 

In  past  times  some  theological  naturalists  used  every 
effort  to  find  some  vestiges  of  fossil  men  contemporaries  of 
the  deluge.  One  of  them  thought  he  had  succeeded,  and 
gave  the  pompous  name  of  homo  diluvii  testis  to  the  frag- 
ments of  a  skeleton  discovered  in  Switzerland  by  Scheuch- 
zer  in  the  quarries  of  (Eningen.  But  Cuvier  scattered  all 
this  to  the  winds  by  showing  that  this  precious  "  man,  a 
witness  of  the  deluge,"  valued  at  its  weight  in  gold  and 
venerated  as  a  holy  relic,  was  nothing  more  than  the  skel- 
eton of  a  gigantic  salamander.  Doubt  was  no  longer  possi- 
ble. The  head  of  the  reptile  had  been  taken  for  the  hip- 
bone ;  the  teeth  could  be  seen,  and  the  French  naturalist 
had  only  to  scrape  the  stone  a  little  in  order  to  lay  bare 
the  claws. 

At  present  this  biblical  ardor  seems  replaced  by  quite  an 
opposite  tendency  of  argument.  Scientific  facts,  the  value 
of  which  cannot  be  contested,  clearly  establish  the  antiquity 
of  the  human  race,  notwithstanding  which,  for  some  inex- 
plicable reason,  certain  geologists  make  every  effort  to  nul- 
lify this  great  discovery. 


578  TEE    UNIVERSE. 

From  time  to  time  vestiges  of  our  species  had  been  found 
among  the  debris  of  animals  which  had  become  extinct  in 
the  latest  revolutions  of  our  globe. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  learned  archaeologist,  M.  Boucher 
de  Perthes,  supported  by  the  most  laudable  perseverance, 
succeeded  in  collecting  a  tolerably  large  number  of  flint  in- 
struments, which  had  clearly  belonged  to  pre-historic  races 
of  men  destroyed  in  the  great  diluvian  catastrophe. 

There  was  no  longer  any  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  illus- 
trious Lyell.  These  implements  shaped  out  of  flint,  —  axes, 
arrow-heads,  and  knives,  —  which  are  found  in  the  drift, 
were  the  work  of  a  race  which  preceded  ours,  a  race  which 
was  contemporary  with  the  cave-bears  and  hyenas,  and 
even  with  the  rhinoceroses  and  elephants,  which  formerly 
inhabited  our  soil,  and  of  which  we  find  only  the  fossilized 
remains.1 

1  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  has  just  made  a  discovery  as  fortunate  as  it  was  un- 
expected, which  confirms  his  former  views.  He  has  at  last  found  in  the  drift 
gravel,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Abbeville,  human  remains  mixed  with  flint  imple- 
ments. These  precious  remains  consisted  of  a  human  tooth  and  jaw,  and  were 
found  at  a  depth  of  nearly  fifteen  feet.  The  concurrence  of  opinion  among  the 
English  and  French  naturalists  who  examined  these  relics  leaves  no  room  for 
doubt;  they  belong  to  a  race  of  men  anterior  to  the  deluge. 

[It  seems  difficult  to  understand  how  any  unprejudiced  person  who  has  really 
examined  the  evidence  can  refuse  to  believe  that  man  lived  on  this  globe  many 
thousands  of  years  before  histpry  began.  It  is  as  certain  as  anything  can  be  that 
flint  implements  wrought  by  human  hands  have  been  found,  not  in  one  or  two, 
but  in  many  places,  especially  undisturbed  caves,  beneath  or  embedded  in  stalag- 
mite containing  remains  of  the  great  cave-bear,  the  cave-hyena,  the  mammoth, 
cave-lion,  and  rhinoceros,  and  that  man's  era  certainly  goes  back  to  at  any  rate 
the  decline  of  the  great  glacial  period,  even  if  he  did  not  exist  before  it.  They 
have  been  met  with  also  in  river-drifts  interbedded  with  the  bones  of  the  mam- 
moth and  rhinoceros,  and  in  fresh-water  formations,  together  with  the  bones  of 
the  elephant. —  The  Stream  of  Life  on  our  Globe,  chap.  ii.  — TR.] 


GEOLOGY.  579 

The  discoveries,  then,  of  geologists  and  archaeologists  re- 
veal to  us  that  vestiges  of  antediluvian  races  exist  in  the 
ground.  Lyell,  Lartet,  and  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  are 
unanimous  on  this  point. 

Is  it  not,  then,  strange  to  hear  that  at  the  very  time  when 
modern  science  was  making  every  effort  to  deny  that  man 
and  the  great  races  of  mammals  were  contemporary,  the 
affirmative  was  in  some  measure  already  interwoven  in 
the  rhapsodical  traditions  of  the  North  American  savages  ? 
Jefferson  says  the  aborigines  are  convinced  that  the  masto- 
dons, the  bones  of  which  are  so  often  found  in  their  coun- 
try, lived  there  at  the  same  time  as  their  forefathers,  but 
that,  as  they  (the  mastodons)  destroyed  all  the  animals  which 
were  useful  to  men,  the  Great  Spirit  destroyed  them  all 
with  his  thunderbolts,  except  the  strongest  of  their  males, 
the  mail-clad  brow  of  which  shook  off  the  bolts  as  they 
struck  him. 

The  lake  dwellings,  of  which  so  many  remains  have  been 
recently  discovered  in  the  lakes  of  Switzerland,  Scotland, 
and  Denmark,  also  attest  the  antiquity  of  man  on  the  globe. 
It  is  no  longer  possible  nowadays  to  deny  that  these  sin- 
gular constructions,  raised  on  piles,  served  in  pre-historic 
times  to  shelter  the  first  human  races.  We  can  no  longer 
doubt  respecting  this  point,  now  that  among  these  primitive 
vestiges  of  art  have  been  found  different  implements  which 
their  inhabitants  made  use  of,  —  mill-stones,  stone  knives 
and  weapons,  besides  collars  and  bracelets  in  bronze  or  Bal- 
tic amber,  and  even  human  skeletons.1 

1  Our  learned  naturalist,  Victor  Meunier,  gives  the  following  curious  details 
about  the  lacustrine  dwellings ;— 


580  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Such  are  the  grand  scenes  of  the  temporary  creations 
which  successively  lent  life  to  the  earth,  and  during  each 
of  which  the  sublime  essence  of  life  seems  to  be  constantly 
progressing  over  matter  till  it  reaches  our  species,  the  gen- 
ius of  which  appears  the  highest  reflection  of  the  divinity. 

But  it  is  in  this  intellectual  supremacy  that  man  inevi- 
tably finds  the  source  of  the  doubts  which  overwhelm  him. 
His  life  is  exhausted  in  vainly  attempting  to  efface  the  past 
and  fathom  the  future.  His  thoughts,  uncertain  and  inquis- 
itive, sweep  him  along  like  an  impetuous  river  which  loses 
itself  in  a  boundless  ocean :  like  the  favorite  heroes  of 
Goethe  and  Byron,  all  his  efforts  are  directed  towards  un- 
ravelling the  impenetrable  shadows  of  his  destiny.  Hence, 

"  In  New  Guinea  the  Papuans  also  build  on  piles,  but  these  are  sunk  in  the  sea 
at  a  certain  distance  from  the  shore,  and  parallel  with  it.  They  support,  at  a 
height  of  eight  or  ten  feet  above  the  water,  a  flooring  formed  of  round  pieces  of 
wood,  which  in  its  turn  supports  circular  or  square  cabins,  formed  of  stakes  placed 
near  each  other,  and  of  interlaced  rushes,  and  covered  by  conical  or  two-fronted 
roofs.  One  or  two  narrow  bridges  lead  to  the  shore. 

"  Except  in  the  difference  between  a  lacustrine  and  maritime  site,  the  habita- 
tions of  these  Poeonians  on  Lake  Prasias,  whom  Megabyzus  could  not  subdue,  were 
exactly  similar."  (Herodotus,  book  v.,  cap.  16.) 

"  The  settlements  of  those  Africans  whose  aquatic  city,  built  in  a  creek  of  the 
river  Tsadda,  caused  so  much  astonishment,  some  ten  years  ago,  to  Dr.  Baikie,  the 
English  naturalist,  then  a  member  of  the  expedition  in  the  Pleiad  on  the  Niger, 
are  also  constructed  quite  on  the  same  plan. 

"  On  the  approach  of  strangers  the  inhabitants  issued  from  their  abodes,  the 
water  being  up  to  their  knees.  One  child  was  up  to  the  waist.  4  We  saw  some 
of  these  huts,'  says  the  doctor,  'which  the  inhabitants,  if  they  be  inhabited,  could 
only  enter  or  leave  by  diving  like  beavers.  We  could  not  have  imagined,'  he 
adds,  *  reasonable  creatures  forming,  as  it  were  from  taste,  a  colony  of  beavers, 
having  the  manners  of  the  hippopotami  and  crocodiles  which  infest  the  neighbor- 
ing marshes.'  "  —  Victor  Meunier,  La  Science  et  les  Savants  en  1864,  Paris,  1865, 
p.  86. 


GEOLOGY.  581 

philosophers  and  learned  men  of  the  highest  class,  looking 
at  the  incessant  change  in  created  beings,  have  asked  them- 
selves the  question  whether  the  human  species  was  really 
the  masterpiece  and  the  last  effort  of  creative  power,  or 
whether  it  will  in  its  turn  disappear  in  some  new  ship- 
wreck, to  be  succeeded  by  creatures  of  still  purer  essence. 

Looking  at  the  progress  which  each  creation  shows,  some 
of  the  German  savants  admit,  with  Bremser,  the  latter  hy- 
pothesis, and  among  them  are  some  daring  enough  to  at- 
tempt to  prove  the  point  by  figures.1 

In  his  remarkable  work  on  Geology,  M.  Louis  Figuier  has 
written  on  this  subject  a  beautiful  passage,  which  we  are 
happy  to  lay  before  the  reader.  "  It  is  not  impossible,"  he 
says,  "  that  man  may  be  a  step  in  the  ascending  and  pro- 
gressive scale  of  animated  beings.  The  divine  power,  which 
strewed  on  earth  life,  sensation,  and  thought ;  which  gave  to 
the  plant  organization ;  to  the  animal  movement,  sensation, 
and  intelligence ;  to  man,  besides  these  manifold  gifts,  the 

1  Bremser  thus  explains  himself  in  reference  to  this  subject :  — 
"It  may  still  be  presumed,  supposing  there  should  be  a  new  radical  change, 
that  beings  more  perfect  than  those  which  resulted  from  preceding  ones  will  be  cre- 
ated. In  man  mind  bears  the  same  proportion  to  matter  as  50  to  50,  with  slight 
differences  more  or  less,  for  sometimes  mind  and  sometimes  matter  predominates. 
In  a  subsequent  creation,  supposing  that  in  which  man  was  formed  not  to  be  the 
last,  there  would  probably  be  organizations  in  which  the  mind  would  act  more 
freely,  and  where  it  would  be  in  the  proportion  of  75  to  25.  It  results  from  these 
considerations  that  man  was  formed  at  the  most  passive  epoch  of  existence  on  our 
earth.  Man  is  a  sad  middle  state  between  the  animal  and  the  angel ;  he  aspires 
to  elevated  knowledge,  and  cannot  reach  it,  albeit  our  modern  philosophers  fancy 
such  is  not  the  case.  Man  wishes  to  fathom  the  first  cause  of  all  that  exists,  and 
cannot  attain  to  it ;  with  fewer  intellectual  faculties  he  would  not  have  the  pre- 
sumption to  want  to  know  these  causes,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  would  be  quite 
clear  to  him  if  he  were  endowed  with  a  more  extended  mind." 


582  THE   UNIVERSE. 

faculty  of  reason,  doubled  by  the  power  of  aiming  at  the 
ideal,  perhaps  proposes  to  itself  to  create  one  day,  along 
with  man  or  after  him,  a  still  superior  being.  This  new 
creature,  which  modern  religion  and  poetry  appear  to  have 
foreseen  in  the  ethereal  and  radiant  type  of  the  Christian 
angel,  would  be  provided  with  moral  faculties,  the  nature 
and  essence  of  which  elude  our  understanding. 

"  We  ought  to  satisfy  ourselves  with  laying  down  this  re- 
doubtable problem  without  attempting  to  resolve  it.  This 
great  mystery,  to  use  the  beautiful  expression  of  Pliny,  is 
concealed  in  the  majesty  of  nature,  latet  in  maj estate  naturae, 
or,  better,  in  the  thoughts  and  omnipotence  of  the  Creator 
of  worlds." 


GEOLOGY.  585 

~^3r  those  who  know  how  to  fathom  the  most  mysterious 
revelations  of  Nature  she  unveils  other  and  quite  unex- 
pected facts,  —  traces  of  certain  acts  or  certain  phenomena 
which  have  lasted  only  an  instant ! 

The  antiquary  no  longer  finds  on  the  sand  any  trace  left 
by  the  bloody  feet  of  those  proud  conquerors  who  marched 
their  savage  hordes  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other, 
whilst  humble  tortoises,  or  a  few  isolated  lizards,  separated 
from  us  by  twenty  cataclysms,  still  display  to  the  astonished 
naturalist  the  passing  impress  of  their  steps  upon  a  soil 
scarcely  consolidated  in  the  most  ancient  times  of  our  globe. 
And,  moreover,  who  would  think  we  should  even  find  indi- 
cations of  the  storms  of  the  primitive  epochs  of  the  earth  ? 
Ram-drops,  falling  upon  the  sand,  formed  impressions  upon 
it  which  it  has  preserved  by  becoming  transformed  into  a 
solid  freestone ! l 

up  by  violent  tempests.  It  is  found  mingled  with  floating  wood  and  marine 
plants,  which  are  withdrawn  from  the  waves  by  means  of  nets.  When  the  mass 
is  rescued  from  the  sea  the  women  and  children  seek  for  the  precious  substance. 
In  the  interior  of  Europe  the  amber  is  dug  out  like  fossil  products.  Beds  of  it 
are  found  in  Switzerland,  in  Poland,  and  in  Italy.  It  is  also  met  with  in  Green- 
land. 

This  valuable  material  flowed  so  abundantly  from  the  pine-trees  that  it  often 
accumulated  on  the  ground  in  masses  of  considerable  size.  Here  the  resin,  com- 
bining with  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  became  transformed  into  succinic  acid.  The 
largest  piece  of  amber  known  is  in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  at  Berlin  ;  it 
weighs  more  than  thirteen  pounds..  Its  value  is  estimated  at  £1500,  although 
only  the  tenth  part  of  this  price  was  paid  for  it ;  for,  like  diamonds  in  Brazil, 
amber  is  considered  in  Prussia  the  property  of  the  crown.  The  shores  of  the 
Baltic,  which  produce  the  most  amber,  yield  annually  about  150  tons.  —  Cosmos, 
b.  i.,  s.  329.  K.  Muller,  Mei-veilles  du  Monde  Vegetal,  t.  i.,  p.  168. 

1  These  impressions  of  rain-drops  have  been  photographed  by  J.  Deane,  from 
rocks  in  Connecticut.  They  are  evidently  due  to  showers  falling  on  sand  still 


586  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  this  marvellous  preservation  of  ancient 
beings,  men  long  persisted  in  regarding  fossils  as  only  freaks 
of  nature,  —  lusus  naturce,  as  they  were  called. 

In  vain  did  the  earth  yield  up  its  most  delicate  skeletons, 
with  all  their  fine,  thin  bones;  in  vain  did  it  present  shells 
with  their  most  charming  tracery,  sometimes  even  with 
their  ancient  coloring  ;  in  vain  did  we  find  in  the  midst  of 


226.  Impressions  of  Rain-Drops  and  Animal's  Footsteps  on  Antediluvian  Rocks. 

rocks  birds  yet  enveloped  in  their  feathers,  and  insects  with 
their  transparent  wings  :  up  to  the  sixteenth  century  all 
these  things  only  passed  for  accidental  products  begotten  by 
chance,  and  merely  possessing  the  deceptive  appearance  of 
beings  which  life  had  animated. 

moist  and  soft,  which  later  on  became  dry,  and  was  transformed  into  freestone. 
In  other  rocks  of  America,  figures  of  which  can  be  seen  in  Buckland's  work,  we 
find  the  marks  of  tortoises'  feet  and  of  the  footsteps  of  lizards.  —  Buckland, 
Geology  and  Mineralogy  in  their  Relations  to  Natural  Theology. 


GEOLOGY.  587 

No  slight  trouble  had  to  be  taken  in  order  to  hammer  the 
truth  into  the  refractory  brains  of  some  savants.  The  first 
who  had  the  courage  to  do  this  was  a  potter,  poor  in  for- 
tune, but  great  in  genius.  It  was  Bernard  Palissy  who  in 
his  lowly  state  taught  a  lesson  to  the  doctors  of  Paris,  and 
showed  them  that  the  shells  which  are  found  in  the  soil 
were  carried  thither  by  the  sea,  which  of  old  occupied  the 
place  where  we  find  them.  It  was  this  humble  and  fer- 
vent man  who  thus  became  the  founder  of  positive  geolog3r. 

But  whilst  the  different  fossiliferous  rocks  were  being  de- 
posited, whilst  the  earth  was  renewing  its  living  races,  plu- 
tonic  forces,  in  ceaseless  agitation,  from  time  to  time  shook 
the  crust  of  the  globe,  or  fractured  it  in  various  places.  Its 
fragments  formed  our  mountains,  and  these,  issuing  from 
the  depths  of  the  seas,  bore  aloft  to  the  regions  of  the 
clouds  the  charnel-houses  of  the  animals  which  had  for- 
merly peopled  their  abysses. 

When  Buffon,  in  his  turn,  came  to  the  support  of  the 
view  that  the  shells  scattered  over  the  summits  of  the  Alps 
and  Apennines  only  proved  that  the  globe  had  undergone 
convulsions,  he  found  himself  contradicted  where  no  person 
could  have  expected  it.  This  was  by  Voltaire,  who,  in  his 
"  Physique,"  attacked  with  biting  sarcasm  those  who  adopted 
this  opinion.  He  maintained  that  all  the  shells  found  on 
our  mountains  had  been  scattered  there  by  pilgrims  on  their 
return  from  Rome.1  Only  a  few  words  were  needed  to  have 

1  The  idea  of  ascribing  to  the  pilgrims  from  Rome  the  fossil  shells  found  in 
the  mountains  was  not  long  upheld  by  the  philosopher  of  Ferney.  He  shrank 
from  the  idea  of  seriously  embroiling  himself  with  the  illustrious  overseer  of  the 
Jardin  de  Plantes.  "  I  do  not,"  he  said,  "  wish  to  quarrel  with  M.  Buffon  about 
shells."  —  Voltaire,  Physique,  chap,  xv.,  "  Des  Singularites  de  la  Nature." 


588  THE    UNIVERSE. 

silenced  the  immortal  writer.  But  these  few  words  Buff  on 
never  uttered.  He  could  have  told  him  that  we  find  these 
fossil  vestiges  everywhere,  even  in  the  two  Americas,  whither 
certainly  these  pious  travellers  never  carried  them ;  whilst, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  even  imposing  chains  of  moun- 
tains which  are  absolutely  formed  of  shells. 

Notwithstanding  the  perfect  preservation  of  many  fos- 
sils, the  love  of  the  marvellous  which  predominated  over 
our  ancestors  made  them  misunderstand  nature,  and  these 
relics  were  almost  constantly  assigned  to  some  extraordi- 
nary creature  or  other.  The  bones  of  bears,  which  were 
obtained  from  the  caves  of  Franconia,  passed  in  Germany 
for  a  sovereign  antidote,  and  were  sold  in  all  the  apothe- 
caries' shops  as  the  remains  of  the  fabulous  unicorn. 

For  the  elephants  and  mastodons  there  was  generally  an- 
other story.  As  many  of  the  bones  of  these  animals  pre- 
sent in  their  forms  striking  resemblances  to  those  of  man,  at 
an  epoch  when  the  imagination  of  our  forefathers,  roused 
to  enthusiasm  by  the  legends  of  olden  times,  elevated  the 
stature  of  heroes  to  the  height  of  their  heroic  poems,  the 
bones  of  the  -great  mammals  found  in  the  earth  were  con- 
stantly referred  to  some  celebrated  personage. 

Thus,  according  to  the  statement  of  Pausanias,  the  knee- 
cap of  an  elephant,  as  large  as  a  circus  discus,  found  near 
Salamis,  was  considered  as  having  belonged  to  Ajax.  The 
Spartans  prostrated  themselves  before  the  skeleton  of  one 
of  these  animals,  in  which  they  thought  they  recognized 
the  skeleton  of  Orestes.  Some  remains  of  a  mammoth 
found  in  Sicily  were  considered  as  having  belonged  to  Poly- 
phemus !  .  .  . 


GEOLOGY.  589 

The  learned  were  not  more  exempt  than  the  vulgar  from 
these  kinds  of  errors.  Father  Kircher,  in  his  remarkable 
work  on  the  subterranean  world  ("Mundus  Subterraneus  "), 
gives  figures  of  these  giants  alongside  of  men  of  ordinary 
size. 

The  skeleton  of  an  elephant  discovered  in  Switzerland,  at 
the  foot  of  a  tree  torn  up  by  the  wind,  was  considered  by 
F.  Plater,  the  anatomist,  as  the  skeleton  of  a  giant  nineteen 
feet  high.  He  even  restored  it  by  means  of  a  sketch  which 
became  celebrated,  and  which  was  to  be  seen  some  time 
ago  at  Lucerne  in  an  ancient  college  of  the  Jesuits. 

In  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.  there  was  found  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhone  a  skeleton  which  attained  great  celebrity.  It 
was  shown  as  that  of  Teutobocchus,  defeated  by  Marius  in 
a  most  sanguinary  struggle.  It  was  said  to  have  been  ex- 
humed from  a  tomb  bearing  this  inscription,  "  Teutobocchus 
rex,"  in  which  were  also  found  some  medals  with  the  same 
title.  But  despite  all  this  evidence,  the  remains  of  this  too 
famous  king  of  the  Cimbri,  which  gave  rise  to  so  many  bit- 
ter disputes  among  the  faculty  and  physicians  of  Paris,  were 
recognized  by  De  Blainville  as  being  nothing  more  than 
those  of  a  narrow-toothed  mastodon  (M.  angustidens). 

The  name  of  the  Field  of  Giants  is  even  often  given  to 
places  in  which  the  bones  of  elephants  and  mastodons 
abound.1 

1  Near  Bogota,  at  a  height  of  2660  metres  (about  8750  feet),  there  is  a  field 
filled  with  bones  of  mastodons,  called  there  the  Campo  de  Gigantes  (field  of  the 
giants),  in  which  Humboldt  had  some  excavations  made  with  great  care. — 
Cosmos,  b.  i.,  p.  321. 


BOOK  III. 


THE    MOUNTAINS:     CATACLYSMS    AND    UP- 
HEAVALS OF  THE  GLOBE. 

IT  is  in  the  midst  of  lofty  mountains  that  Nature  develops 
her  most  magnificent  scenes.  Their  winding-sheets  of 
eternal  snow,  their  diaderns  of  ice,  and  their  burning  vol- 
canoes by  turns  strike  and  astonish  the  traveller.  "It 
seems,"  says  Rousseau,  '"  as  if,  when  we  rise  above  the 
dwellings  of  men,  we  leave  behind  all  low  and  earth-born 
sentiments,  and  that  in  proportion  as  we  approach  the 
ethereal  regions  the  soul  contracts  something  of  their  un- 
changeable purity  !  " 

Here  we  are  penetrated  by  a  sense  of  the  divine  majesty 
and  human  weakness.  Before  their  colossal  masses,  their 
frightful  and  sombre  clefts,  we  can  say  with  the  old  German 
miner,  "  Man  is  only  an  atom  on  the  mountain,  though  he 
is  a  giant  in  the  mine." 

The  aspect  of  the  sea  is  monotonous  compared  to  that 
of  the  frowning  crests  of  the  globe  ;  if  it  have  its  gales 
and  tempests,  they  have  their  hurricanes  and  avalanches. 
Mountains  are  also  of  importance  in  the  harmony  of  the 
globe.  These  grand  chains,  the  summits  of  which  pierce 
the  lofty  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  seem,  says  De  Saus- 
sure?  to  be  the  laboratory  of  Nature,  and  the  reservoir  from 


GEOLOGY.  591 

whence  she  draws  all  the  blessings  and  ills  which  she  pours 
upon  earth,  —  the  rivers  which  water  and  the  torrents 
which  ravage  it,  the  rains  which  fertilize  and  the  storms 
which  desolate  it. 

The  mountains  are  only  the  result  of  upheavals  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth,  caused  by  throes  of  the  incandescent 
mass  which  it  envelops.  The  globe,  in  cooling,  is  necessa- 
rily forced  to  contract.  When  the  elasticity  of  the  crust 
has  reached  its  farthest  limits,  it  splits,  and  its  fragments 
produce  eminences,  the  elevation  of  which  is  in  direct  pro- 
portion to  the  thickness  of  the  covering  and  the  intensity 
of  the  volcanic  effort. 

In  the  earliest  times  the  surface  of  the  earth  presented 
no  mountains,  and  those  which  first  appeared  were  very 
low.  The  solidified  crust,  being  .then  very  thin,  required 
but  little  effort  to  raise  it.  But  in  proportion  as  it  became 
thicker  the  mountains  acquired  a  proportionate  elevation, 
and  in  order  to  cleave  it  an  effort  of  the  most  prodigious 
kind  was  necessary. 

Great  shocks,  as  we  have  already  said,  have  at  times 
rent  the  globe  almost  from  one  pole  to  the  other.  As  a 
particular  instance  we  may  mention  the  upheaval  which 
formed  the  New  World,  during  which  the  Cordilleras  ap- 
peared, stretching  away  from  the  Icy  Sea  to  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  producing  the  great  wall  which  traverses  the  two 
Americas. 

When  we  think  of  the  ravages  which  are  occasioned  in 
our  own  time  by  simple  earthquakes,  we  at  once  conclude 
that  these  cataclysms  must  have  been  accompanied  by  an 
uproar  and  an  amount  of  confusion  of  which  our  minds 
could  never  form  but  a  very  imperfect  image. 


592  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  birth  of  lofty  chains  of  mountains  has  occasioned 
great  disturbances  among  the  ancient  oceans.  Some,  as  we 
have  seen,  gave  rise  to  those  disastrous  inundations  men- 
tioned in  the  cosmogony  of  every  race  possessed  of  written 
annals.  According  to  Messrs.  d'Omalius  d'Halloy,  Beudant, 
and  Elie  de  Beaumont,  the  most  imposing  catastrophe  of 
historic  times,  our  Mosaic  deluge,  was  probably  only  the 
effect  of  the  mightiest  upheaval  of  the  globe,  that  of  the 
Andes ;  and  the  uplifting  of  America  above  the  ocean, 
which  was  the  result  of  this,  gave  rise  to  the  immeasur- 
able flood  which  broke  tumultuously  against  the  old  conti- 
nent. 

In  his  work  on  cataclysms  M.  Frederick  Klee  has  laid 
down  some  very  remarkable  views  on  this  subject.  Accord- 
ing to  him  the  axis  of  the  globe  has  suffered  displacements, 
and  it  was  the  last  of  these  that  occasioned  that  terrible 
event  the  deluge. 

Nothing  checks  M.  Klee  in  his  daring  conceptions.  He 
even  thinks  that  some  of  the  contemporaries  of  this  great 
telluric  revolution  may  have  passed  safely  through  it,  and 
that  to  those  who  thus  survived  we  owe  the  legends  which 
erudition  has  discovered  in  some  ancient  writings.  Accord- 
ing to  this  geologist,  it  is  to  the  witnesses  of  this  irresisti- 
ble convulsion  that  we  must  ascribe  the  mythical  traditions 
in  which  it  is  said  that  during  the  catastrophe  of  the  del- 
uge the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  changed  their  places  in  the 
heavens. 

If,  indeed,  the  axis  of  the  globe  had  been  displaced,  man, 
regarding  the  earth  then  as  being  immovable  and  in  the 
centre  of  the  universe,  would  naturally  think  it  was  the 


GEOLOGY.  593 

stars  which  had  deviated  from  their  path  across  the  celestial 
fields.1 

In  the  Scandinavian  mythology  we  discover  some  pic- 
tures of  the  great  events  which  then  took  place  in  the  earth 
and  in  the  heavens.  The  Edda  paints  the  ravages  of  the 
volcanic  eruptions  and  of  the  waves  of  a  wild  and  untamed 
ocean.  This  collection  even  contains  some  rhapsodical  de- 
scriptions of  our  cataclysms.  This  is  the  character  of  the 
prophecies  of  the  Vala,  where  it  borrows  its  principal  im- 
ages from  the  sombre  catastrophe  of  the  deluge.  The 
inspired  sibyl  relates  that  at  this  time  the  sun  rose  in 
the  south,  and  that  the  east  was  invaded  by  polar  ices. 
M.  Klee  considers  that  these  assertions  support  the  theory 
of  a  change  in  the  axis  of  the  globe.2 

Naturalists  are  almost  agreed  as  to  the  cause  of  the  great 

1  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  long  before  M.  Klee,  had  enunciated  a  system  ex- 
actly corresponding  to  that  of  this  geologist.     He  believed  that  it  was  the  succes- 
sive increase  in  the  tropical  vegetation  and  of  the  polar  ices  that  made  the  globe 
move  alternately  one  way  and  another.     According  to  our  celebrated  writer,  this 
system  also  explained  the  ancient  traditions  of  the  Egyptian  priests,  in  which  it 
is  said  that  formerly  the  sun  rose  where  now  it  sets.  —  Harmonies  de  la  Nature, 
Paris,  1806,  t.  ii.,  p.  96. 

2  The  following  are  fragments  of  the  prophecies  of  the  Vala,  drawn  from  the 
Scandinavian  Edda,  in  which  allusion  is  made  to  the  convulsions  of  the  globe:  — 

"  I  remember,"  says  the  sibyl,  "  nine  worlds  and  nine  heavens.  Before  the 
sons  of  Bor  (the  gods)  raised  the  globes,  they  who  created  the  gleaming  Mid- 
gaard,  the  sun  shone  in  the  south.  In  the  east  was  seated  the  old  woman  in  the 
forest  of  iron  (the  polar  ices).  The  sun  is  covered  with  clouds,  the  earth  sinks 
in  the  sea,  the  shining  stars  disappear  from  the  heavens,  clouds  of  smoke  envelop 
the  all-nourishing  tree,  lofty  flames  mount  even  to  heaven  ;  the  sea  rears  itself 
violently  towards  the  skies  and  passes  over  the  lands.  Neither  earth  nor  sun 
exist  any  longer;  the  air  is  overcome  by  glittering  streams.  .  .  .  she  (the  sibyl)  for 
the  second  time  sees  the  earth,  covered  with  verdure,  rise  from  the  sea."  —  Fr. 
Klee,  Le  Dtluge,  p.  223. 


594  THE    UNIVERSE. 

deluge ;  but  their  opinions  vary  greatly  as  to  the  epoch  to 
which  we  should  refer  the  appearance  of  America  and  the 
antiquity  of  the  human  species.  Here  modern  science  re- 
lapses into  speculation. 

As  our  cataclysms  indicate  the  different  stages  of  a  cease- 
less force,  it  is  evident  that  others  still  menace  us.  Every- 
thing, indeed,  seems  to  foretell  that  ages  to  come  will  see 
other  plutonic  phenomena  display  themselves,  and  new  sys- 
tems of  mountains  arise.  Hence,  as  the  upheavals  follow 
a  progressively  ascending  scale,  we  are  quite  led  to  expect 
new  outbursts  and  more  terrible  convulsions. 

Man  has  been  enabled  to  verify  these  assertions,  and  him- 
self to  behold  mountains  issue  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth. 
In  1538  one  formed  in  the  environs  of  Naples.  In  1759,  at 
two  or  three  days'  journey  from  Mexico,  Jorullo,  since  so 
celebrated,  reared  its  volcanic  plateau.  Above  a  plain  for- 
merly dedicated  to  agriculture,  a  surface  of  ten  square 
leagues  was  raised  into  the  air,  and  transformed  into  nu- 
merous and  ever-active  craters. 

This  may  be  a  fitting  place  to  say  that  man}'  contempo- 
ary  geologists  maintain  that  these  telluric  changes  were  not 
the  effect  of  sudden  transition,  but  of  slow,  insensible  prog- 
ress. To  the  school  of  Cuvier,  which  proclaimed  the  in- 
fallibility of  this  great  man,  has  succeeded  another,  more 
skeptical,  which  maintains  that,  instead  of  violent  cataclysms 
returning  at  successive  periods  to  convulse  the  globe,  it  has 
been  governed  by  harmonious  laws,  which,  without  shocks, 
without  violence,  transformed  its  surface,  and  perfected 
there,  slowly  and  progressively,  the  work  of  creation.  This 
daring  school,  which  has  seated  itself  upon  the  wreck  of 


GEOLOGY. 


595 


that  of  the  celebrated  naturalist,  demands  that  the  name  of 
cataclysm  should  be  struck  out  of  science.  At  its  head 
stand  Messrs.  Lyell,  Lartet,  and  Darwin. 

Modern  geologists  refer,  in  support  of  this  new  theory,  to 
certain  regions  of  the  globe  which  in  our  day  are  inces- 
santly rising.  The  ancient  Sagas  tell  us  that  many  parts 


227.  Modern  Upheaval :  Jorullo  in  Mexico. 

of  the  beach  of  the  Baltic,  formerly  almost  on  a  level  with 
this  sea,  and  upon  which  ample  troops  of  seals  climbed  to 
play  and  bask  in  the  sun,  were  the  scenes  of  great  hunts  by 
the  Finns,  who  slew  them  with  their  arrows.  Now  Yon 
Buch  and  Lyell  have  shown  that  these  very  places  are  at 
the  present  time  raised  to  a  great  height  above  the  waves, 
and  are  quite  inaccessible  to  these  animals.  "  In  800  years," 
says  Humboldt,  "  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Scandinavian  pe- 
ninsula has  risen  perhaps  more  than  330  feet;  and  if  this 


596  THE   UNIVERSE. 

movement  continue  at  a  uniform  rate,  in  1200  years  parts 
of  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  now  covered  with  fifty  fathoms  of 
water,  will  begin  to  emerge  and  become  dry  land." 

Darwin  and  many  other  authors  have  affirmed  that  some 
very  extensive  regions  of  South  America  were  formerly  the 
theatre  of  slow  and  progressive  upheavals,  which  gave  birth 
to  the  plains  of  Patagonia,  all  over  which  are  scattered  re- 
cent marine  shells,  bearing  eloquent  testimony  to  the  youth 
of  these  realms. 

It  is  to  the  ancient  continent  that  the  loftiest  eminences 
of  the  globe  belong.  It  was  thought  that  Chimborazo,  in 
South  America,  rose  above  every  other ;  but  since  a  more 
accurate  study  has  been  made  of  the  Himalaya  range,  which 
lords  it  over  the  chain  of  Thibet,  and  towers  to  a  height  of 
above  29,000  feet,1  men  have  been  forced  to  greet  it  as  the 
king  of  the  mountain  chains. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  its  positive  height,  this  imposing 
mass  forms  a  scarcely  perceptible  elevation  on  the  surface 
of  the  globe.  An  attempt  has  been  made,  in  works  on  ge- 
ology, to  give  an  idea  of  this  fact  by  repeating  that  the 
loftiest  mountains  on  the  earth  produce  on  it  asperities 
comparable  to  those  of  an  orange.  But  the  comparison  is 
far  too  forced,  for  the  highest  mountain  chains  on  the 
globe  only  form  on  its  surface  projections  equal  to  those 
of  a  grain  of  sand  (say  Mh  of  an  inch)  on  a  sphere  six 
feet  in  diameter. 

When  we  revert  to  the  vast  commotions  which  took  place 
at  the  upheaval  of  mountains,  and  to  their  geological  con- 
stitution, we  feel  at  once  that  their  lofty  summits  must  pre- 

1  The  Kaurisankar,  or  Mount  Everest,  is  29,002  feet  high. 


J.  View  in  Tierra  del  Fuego.    Conical  Peaks  of  Admiralty  Strait. 


GEOLOGY.  599 

sent  very  varied  aspects.  This  is  the  case.  Some  moun- 
tain chains,  like  those  of  Calabria,  have  crests  toothed  like 
saws ;  others  resemble  pointed  crystals,  as  is  seen  in  Savoy, 
where,  on  this  account,  they  are  called  aiguilles.  Often 
the  tops  are  rounded  and  form  a  succession  of  paps ;  finally, 
at  other  times,  as,  for  instance,  is  seen  in  the  peaks  of 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  these  asperities  of  the  globe  are  perfectly 
conical,  slender  and  pointed,  exactly  like  gigantic  sugar- 
loaves. 

The  exploration  of  lofty  mountains  is  not  always  free 
from  danger.  But  the  deplorable  accidents  of  which  they 
become  the  theatre  are  often  due  to  the  imprudence  of 
travellers,  who  attend  little  to  the  advice  of  their  guides. 
A  good  guide  holds  in  his  hands  the  lives  of  those  who 
accompany  him  ;  it  is  therefore  necessary  to  make  a  care- 
ful choice  and  to  treat  him  kindly.  I  have  always  done  so, 
and  have  met  with  devoted  men,  who  years  after  have  pre- 
served the  memory  of  my  ascents. 

When  we  have  arrived  at  a  moderate  height  the  ascent 
of  any  mountain  becomes  a  heavy  toil.  Movement  and 
respiration  become  extremely  difficult  in  proportion  as  we 
rise.  There  even  comes  a  time  when,  as  De  Saussure  re- 
marks, one  is  obliged  to  stop  every  fifty  yards  overwhelmed 
by  an  inexplicable  fatigue.  Then  the  rarefaction  of  the 
air  renders  the  oppression  greater  and  greater,  and  the 
heart  beats  as  if  it  would  burst  from  the  chest,  and  the 
traveller  feels  every  instant  as  if  he  would  faint.  Twice 
Baron  Mtiller,  abandoned  by  his  guides  and  companions, 
fainted  quite  away  on  the  borders  of  the  crater  of  Orizaba, 
whilst  torrents  of  blood  gushed  from  his  chest. 


600  THE   UNIVERSE. 

After  long  journeys  in  the  snow,  the  traveller,  subdued 
by  cold  and  lassitude,  experiences  an  insurmountable  de- 
sire to  sleep,  and  yet  dare  not,  for  all  the  world  contains, 
yield  himself  up  to  it ;  for  this  sleep  conducts  him  to  inevi- 
table death,  —  a  fact  known  to  all  travellers. 

On  the  frozen  shores  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  Solander,  lost 
in  the  mountains,  said  imperiously  to  his  companions  in  mis- 
fortune, "  Whoever  sits  down  will  sleep,  and  he  who  sleeps 
will  never  wake  again."  Yet  so  overpowering,  so  uncon- 
querable, is  this  tendency  to  sleep,  that  several  of  the  men 
yielded  to  it,  and  Solander  himself,  a  few  moments  after- 
wards, sank  down  upon  the  snow,  where  his  friend,  the  illus- 
trious Sir  Joseph  Banks,  had  all  the  difficulty  in  the  world 
to  arouse  him. 

But  when  we  have  arrived  at  the  summit  of  a  moun- 
tain, the  splendor  of  the  sight  makes  one  quite  forget  the 
fatigue  of  the  ascent.  This  I  experienced  lately,  on  climb- 
ing Mount  Etna,  when  I  had  reached  the  borders  of  the 
crater. 

There,  upon  this  throne,  round  which  the  lightning  plays, 
we  overlook  heaven  and  ocean.  Behind  us  the  growlings 
of  the  thunder  reverberate  at  the  bottom  of  the  immense 
gulf,  according  to  ancient  theogony  the  entrance  to  the  em- 
pire of  Pluto,  but  which  the  rustic  mountaineer  only  knows 
as  the  Casa  di  Diavolo.  Standing  on  cinders  which  burned 
my  feet,  and  the  sulphureous  vapors  of  which  almost  suffo- 
cated me,  the  most  splendid  spectacle  in  creation  expanded 
itself  before  my  eyes.  The  dawn  began  to  appear,  and  its 
pale  light  gradually  extinguished  the  wavering  glimmer  of 
the  stars.  Then,  soon  after,  the  sun  appearing  in  all  the 


GEOLOGY.  601 

pomp  of  the  east,  issued  from  his  opal  bed,  his  forehead 
bound  with  purple  and  gold.1 

From  this  prodigious  elevation,  the  eye  embraces  all  the 
circumference  of  Trinacria,  stretching  like  a  warm  and 
luminous  cincture  along  the  blue  waves  which  bathe  its 
shores,  its  advanced  promontories  reminding  one  of  the 
three  legs  which  symbolized  Sicily  on  ancient  medals.  In 
the  distance  the  waves  of  the  Ionian  Sea  blend  with  the 
azure  of  heaven ;  and  on  the  other  hand  the  mountains  of 
Calabria,  with  their  jagged  outlines,  bound  the  panorama 
with  inexpressible  magnificence,  while  Malta  appears  like  a 
dim  point  upon  the  confines  of  a  horizon  300  leagues  in  cir- 
cumference. 

Near  Sicily  rise  from  the  middle  of  the  sea  the  Cyclopean 
Rocks,  like  so  many  black  projections,  contrasting  with  the 
brilliant  shore.  Vestiges  of  the  most  terrible  commotion  of' 
the  elements,  their  basaltic  masses,  produced  amid  the  con- 
vulsions of  the  volcano,  go  back  beyond  historic  epochs. 

It  was  on  the  loftiest  of  these  rocks  that  the  frightful 
Polyphemus,  having  combed  himself  with  a  rake,  delighted 
to  play  upon  the  flute  in  order  to  charm  Galatea,  the  fairest 
of  the  Nereids.  It  was  with  the  highest  rock  that  the  furi- 
ous Cyclops  crushed  Acis,  his  favored  rival.  The  others  he 

1  [In  addition  to  this  the  coloring  of  the  crater  itself  is  in  most  of  these  views  a 
magnificent  sight.  The  hues  include  every  variety  of  yellow,  passing  into  the 
purest  white  on  one  side,  and  deep  orange  or  brown  on  the  other.  Occasion- 
ally we  find  vermilion  and  other  reds.  "  The  brilliancy  of  these  colors, "says  Pro- 
fessor Ansted,  «'  is  such  that  no  pencil  could  imitate  it,  and  the  appearance  can 
only  be  compared  to  the  hues  of  the  clouds  during  an  autumn  sunset  in  a  warm 
climate.  These  bright  tints  are  almost  entirely  due  to  deliquescent  salts  of  am- 
monia, soda,  and  iron."  —  TR.] 


602  THE    UNIVERSE. 

launched  at  the  vessels  of  the  companions  of  Ulysses,  when 
they  escaped  him.  Farther  on  we  see  the  little  port  where 
Homer  makes  the  fleet  of  the  King  of  Ithaca  touch.  All 
here  is  imprinted  with  poesy. 

When  we  look  down  on  the  flanks  of  the  giant  we  behold 
his  frightful  progeny,  a  perfect  pleiades  of  thirty-five  to 
forty  little  volcanoes.  From  this  point  their  craters  show 
like  so  many  circular  lips,  broad  and  depressed,  or  pointed 
and  projecting,  and  crowning  sugar-loaf  cones.  Seen  thus  in 
a  bird's-eye  view,  all  these  volcanoes  exactly  resemble  those 
of  the  moon,  and  it  seems  as  if  we  had  before  our  eyes  a 
magnified  section  of  our  satellite.  I  don't  know  whether 
this  comparison  has  ever  been  made ;  it  is,  however,  strictly 
correct.  The  ascent  of  Etna  might  be  useful  in  this  respect 
to  many  astronomers. 

To  this  splendid  picture  of  vales  and  mountains  unroll- 
ing themselves  before  the  eye,  and  melting  away  in  the 
mists  of  the  horizon,  are  sometimes  joined  remarkable  phe- 
nomena. There  are  some  elevated  peaks  where,  if  a  person 
places  himself  on  a  projecting  eminence  at  sunrise,  his  out- 
line is  traced  on  the  distant  clouds  in  singular  and  gigantic 
proportions.  This  can  often  be  seen  on  the  summit  of  the 
Brocken,  one  of  the  loftiest  mountains  of  the  Harz,  and  it  is 
this  curious  phenomenon  that  is  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Spectres  of  the  Brocken. 

But  during  journeys  among  mountains  the  enchanting 
prospects  from  their  summits  are  not  the  only  ones  that 
excite  moving  impressions,  and  the  vales  which  show  in  the 
distance  like  insignificant,  irregular  lines,  if  they  do  not 
present  such  vast  horizons,  display  at  any  rate  unexpected 


229.  Spectres  of  the  Brocken  in  the  Harz. 


GEOLOGY.  605 

and  marvellous  appearances.  Here  and  there  we  find  pro- 
found and  narrow  gorges,  immense  abysses,  the  sombre  hol- 
lows of  which  the  eye  cannot  fathom,  and  in  the  depths  of 
which  often  rolls  a  furious  torrent,  its  thunders  multiplied  a 
hundred-fold  by  the  echoes.  Everything  threatens  the  dar- 
ing traveller  who  ventures  to  plunge  into  their  abysses. 
On  one  hand  the  avalanche  hangs  suspended  over  his  head, 
and  on  the  other  every  now  and  then  fragments  of  rock  fall 
down  and  threaten  to  crush  him. 

Almost  all  these  imposing  gorges  are  the  effect  of  convul- 
sions of  the  globe,  and  the  first  glance  shows  that  they 
have  resulted  from  a  violent  fracture  of  the  mountains  and 
separation  of  the  fragments.  We  can  identify  these  great 
fissures  by  the  similarity  which  their  walls  present  in  re- 
spect to  the  layers  of  which  they  are  formed,  and  by  the 
irregularity  of  their  chasms,  in  the  depths  of  which  reign 
shade  and  terror.  Our  superstitious  ancestors,  overcome  by 
the  awe  which  these  darksome  clefts  inspired,  often  gave 
them  names  expressive  of  the  dread  they  gave  rise  to ;  as, 
for  instance,  calling  them  hell  valleys,  hell  holes,  or  devil's 
gorges. 

In  all  high  mountains,  such  as  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees,  we 
see  some  which  are  thus  designated.  But  certainly  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  of  these  gorges  is  the  Hell  Valley  in 
the  Black  Forest.  I  passed  through  it  during  a  severe  win- 
ter, and  nothing  could  equal  the  dark  horror  it  inspired. 
Masses  of  snow  hung  suspended  on  its  buttresses,  and  their 
whiteness  contrasted  strongly  with  the  gloomy  mouth  of 
the  infernal  abyss.  This  portico  to  the  domains  of  Pluto, 
though  ample  of  entrance,  was  yet  shrouded  in  impenetra- 


606  THE   UNIVERSE. 

ble  darkness  towards  the  bottom.  The  ancient  Hercynian 
Forest,  which  we  had  just  traversed,  was  buried  under  half 
a  yard  of  rime ;  the  cold  was  25°  below  freezing-point 
(Fahr.) ;  and  our  vehicle,  in  spite  of  the  skids,  which  made 
large  showers  of  ice  fly  on  all  sides,  dragged  us  with  fright- 
ful rapidity  towards  the  precipice.  It  was  altogether  su- 
perb, and  vividly  recalled  the  icy  forests  of  the  north. 

Sometimes,  on  the  contrary,  the  mountain  tops,  in  splin- 
tering off,  have  left  upright,  here  and  there,  long,  narrow 
segments  of  rock,  which,  seen  from  afar  in  the  dim  mists 
of  night,  seem  like  so  many  fantastic  shades  hovering  in 
the  clouds.  These  are  the  witch-dances  of  the  superstitious 
inhabitants  of  the  Harz  forests. 

When  the  rending  asunder  of  mountains  takes  place  on  a 
grand  scale,  and  their  flanks  are  deeply  cut  into,  advantage 
is  taken  of  the  natural  openings  thus  formed  in  order  to 
trace  out  roads  or  passes,  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
gates,  because  they  offer  easy  means  of  communication  be- 
tween nations.  The  Iron  Gates  of  Algeria  have  acquired  a 
certain  degree  of  celebrity. 

It  should  also  be  remarked  that  certain  gorges  are  due  to 
the  erosion  of  thq  waters  alone,  which,  rolling  over  their 
walls,  incessantly  wear  them  away,  and  in  time  form  large 
valleys.  These  gorges  of  erosion  are  less  rugged  than 
those  caused  by  rents ;  the  waters,  by  the  friction  of  the 
fragments  carried  down  by  them,  and  by  their  own  move- 
ment, having  smoothed  their  sides.  Often,  also,  rivers  roar 
at  the  bottom  of  these  ravines,  leaping  over  the  pebbles,  or 
precipitating  themselves  from  fall  to  fall  amid  the  rocks. 

Many  of  the  cascades  which  we  meet  with  among  moun- 


230.  Valley  of  Erosion.    Cascade  in  the  Gorges  of  Mount  Taurus,  near  Annasha-Kalessi, 
N.  W.  from  Adana. 


GEOLOGY.  609 

tains  issue  from  gorges  of  erosion.  There  are  some  which, 
like  the  cascade  of  Taurus,  spread  out  in  large  sheets  at  the 
place  where  they  fall ;  others  precipitate  themselves  in  the 
form  of  simple  runlets  of  water  from  lofty  heights,  and  fall 
in  vast  basins  at  their  foot,  as  in  the  Circus  of  Gavarnie  ; 
some  spread  themselves  like  a  net-work  of  streams  on  a 
gentle  slope,  and  resemble  a  skein  of  white  silk,  whose  sil- 
very gleams  undulate  softly  on  the  verdure  of  the  hillocks. 
Seen  from  a  distance,  one  might  say  it  was  a  tress  of  hair 
agitated  by  a  gentle  wind.  These  are  what  the  mountain- 
eers, in  their  picturesque  language,  call  the  "  Locks  of  the 
Magdalen." 

A  very  remarkable  cascade,  perhaps  the  grandest  moun- 
tain waterfall  in  the  known  world,  is  that  in  Northern  Cali- 
fornia, called  the  Yosemite  Falls.  Experienced  travellers 
say  that  there  are  no  precipices  in  Asia  which,  for  height 
and  grandeur,  can  be  compared  with  the  vertical  granite 
walls  of  the  Yosemite  Valley.  Standing  on  the  verge  of 
one  of  these  tremendous  precipices,  one  may  look  down 
more  than  three  thousand  feet,  a  distance  which  baffles  the 
eye  and  the  mind  to  appreciate.  By  the  most  recent  geo- 
logical surveys  the  Yosemite  Falls  are  credited  with  the  as- 
tounding height  of  2800  feet.  At  an  early  period  it  is 
probable  that  the  entire  mass  of  water  plunged  down  that 
distance  without  a  break,  but  at  the  present  time  a  single 
ledge  of  slant  projection  changes  the  headlong  flood  from 
cataract  to  rapids  for  about  400  feet,  thus  forming  three 
cascades.  But  the  upper  fall  has  an  unbroken  descent  of 
1500  feet,  and  the  lower  one  of  1300. 

Instead  of  these  mountain  cascades,  the  variety  of  which 


610  THE    UNIVERSE. 

pleases  the  eye,  and  the  distant  murmur  of  which  charms 
the  ear,  when  great  streams  meet  with  obstructions  in  their 
way,  cataracts  and  falls  are  formed  of  the  most  formidable 
aspect.  In  some  cases  large  sheets  of  water,  as  at  Niagara, 
precipitate  themselves  to  the  bottom  of  an  immense  gulf 
with  a  roar  which  seems  to  shake  the  surrounding  rocks ;  in 
other  cases,  as  in  the  falls  of  the  Zambesi,  the  river  divides 
into  several  masses,  and  gives  origin  to  a  series  of  vaporous 
columns,  which  rise  in  eddying  swirls  towards  the  clouds 
and  fall  in  fine  rain. 

Niagara  stands  preeminent  among  the  great  cataracts  of 
the  globe  for  the  enormous  volume  of  water  that  is  carried 
over  so  high  a  precipice.  About  sixteen  miles  from  Lake 
Erie  the  rapids  commence,  which  continue  about  a  mile, 
rolling  swiftly  down  among  the  rocks,  accomplishing  in  this 
distance  a  fall  of  fifty-two  feet.  These  rapids  terminate  in 
the  great  cataract,  the  precipitous  descent  of  which  is  164 
feet  on  the  American  side,  and  150  on  the  Canadian.  At 
this  point  the  river,  making  a  curve  from  W.  to  N.,  spreads 
out  to  an  extreme  width  of  about  4750  feet.  Goat  Island, 
which  extends  down  to  the  brink  of  the  falls,  occupies  about 
one  fourth  of  this  space,  leaving  the  river  on  the  American 
side  about  1100  feet  wide,  and  on  the  Canadian  side  about 
double  this  width.  The  line  along  the  verge  of  the  Cana- 
dian fall  is  much  longer  than  the  breadth  of  this  portion  of 
the  river,  by  reason  of  its  horse-shoe  form,  the  curve  ex- 
tending up  the  centre  of  the  current.  The  waters  sweeping 
down  the  rapids  are  carried  with  great  velocity  over  the 
precipice,  and  form  a  grand  curve.  The  space  between  this 
sheet  of  water  and  the  precipice  widens  near  the  bottom, 


230  a.    The  Yosemite  Falls,  Northern  California. 


GEOLOGY.  613 

and  forms  a  cave  behind  the  fall,  in  which  persons  can 
enter  on  the  Canadian  side,  and  pass  by  a  rough  path  to- 
ward Goat  Island. 

The  sound  of  the  fall  varies  with  the  condition  of  the  at- 
mosphere and  the  wind.  Frequently  it  can  be  heard  only  a 
short  distance,  and  again  it  rolls  over  the  land  to  the  shores 
of  Lake  Ontario,  and  across  its  waters  to  Toronto,  forty-six 
miles  distant.  At  the  edge  of  the  abyss  it  is  heard  in  full 
force,  a  deep,  monotonous  rumbling,  like  the  machinery  of 
a  thousand  great  mills. 

In  the  deep  chasm  below  the  fall,  the  current,  which  is 
less  than  1000  feet  in  width  at  that  point,  forms  great 
whirlpools  and  eddies.  Dangerous  as  it  may  appear,  the 
river  is  here  crossed  by  small  boats,  and  a  small  steamboat, 
called  the  Maid  of  the  Mist,  takes  passengers  nearly  to  the 
foot  of  the  falls.  On  each  side  of  the  gorge  the  walls  rise 
almost  perpendicularly  from  the  fragments  piled  along  their 
base,  and  access  to  and  from  the  summit  can  be  had  only  by 
means  of  stairways  constructed  at  several  points.  Within 
two  miles  of  the  falls  is  the  wire  suspension  bridge,  thrown 
across  the  gorge  at  the  height  of  258  feet  above  the  water, 
and  supported  by  towers  upon  each  bank,  the  centres  of 
which  are  800  feet  apart.  The  current  here  is  about  350 
feet  wide.  The  bridge  was  constructed  in  1855  by  Mr. 
Roebling  for  the  passage  of  railway  trains,  and  twenty- 
eight  feet  below  the  railway  it  also  sustains  a  carriage  and 
a  foot  track. 

The  gorge  through  which  the  Niagara  River  flows  below 
the  falls,  amounting,  at  the  terrace,  to  about  366  feet  in 
depth,  bears  striking  evidence  of  having  been  excavated  by 
the  river  itself.  Moreover,  observations  taken  during  the 


614  THE   UNIVERSE. 

last  century  show  that  changes  have  taken  place  by  the 
falling  down  of  masses  of  rock,  the  effect  of  which  has 
been  to  cause  a  slight  recession  of  the  cataract,  and  extend 
the  gorge  to  the  same  amount  upward  toward  Lake  Erie. 
Thus,  in  1818,  great  fragments  descended  at  the  American 
fall,  and  again,  in  1828,  at  the  Horse-Shoe  fall,  in  each  in- 
stance the  country  being  shaken  as  by  an  earthquake. 

A  striking  feature  at  the  falls,  said  by  good  authority  to 
have  existed  in  1678,  has  entirely  disappeared.  This  was  a 
third  fall  from  the  Canadian  side  toward  the  east,  across 
the  line  of  the  main  fall,  and  caused  by  a  great  rock  that 
turned  the  divided  current  in  this  direction.  The  popular 
estimate  that  the  line  of  the  falls  recedes  fifty  yards  in 
forty  years  is  now  regarded  by  those  who  have  given  the 
most  attention  to  the  subject  as  greatly  exaggerated,  and  a 
foot  a  year  considered  a  far  more  reliable  conjecture. 

A  singular  occurrence  took  place  at  the  falls  on  the  30th 
of  March,  1S47.  The  620,000  tons  of  water  each  minute 
nearly  ceased  to  flow,  and  dwindled  away  to  the  appearance 
of  a  mere  mill-dam.  The  rapids  above  the  falls  disap- 
peared, leaving  scarcely  water  enough  on  the  American 
side  to  turn  a  grindstone.  Ladies  and  gentlemen  rode  in 
carriages  one  third  of  the  way  across  the  river  towards  the 
Canada  shore,  over  solid  rock  as  smooth  as  a  house  floor. 
Table  Rock,  with  some  200  yards  more,  was  left  dry  ;  isl- 
ands, and  places  where  the  foot  of  man  never  dared  to 
tread,  were  visited,  flags  placed  upon  some,  and  mementoes 
brought  away.  This  unexpected  event  was  said  to  be  ac- 
counted for  by  an  accumulation  of  ice  at  the  lower  ex- 
tremity of  Fort  Erie,  which  formed  a  sort  of  dam  between 
Fort  Erie  and  Buffalo. 


BOOK  IV. 


VOLCANOES  AND  EARTHQUAKES. 

AFTER  the  mantle  of  snow  which  envelops  the  summits  of 
the  mountains,  that  which  strikes  us  most  is  their  volcanoes. 
Seen  from  afar,  they  only  give  a  very  imperfect  idea  of 
what  they  are.  To  appreciate  their  phenomena  and  their 
ravages,  our  eyes  must  survey  their  depths.  All  is  then 
changed,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  spectacle  strikes  the  imag- 
ination, graving  terrible  images  on  it.  We  are  astonished 
at  the  immensity  of  their  fire-spouting  mouths,  and  at  the 
vastness  of  the  lava  streams  which  flow  from  them  at  cer- 
tain times.1 

The  mythology  of   Greece  gave   to  these  mountains  an 

1  Some  men  of  science  have  expressed  their  wonder  that  the  interior  of  the 
earth  can  furnish  matter  sufficient  for  these  eruptions,  but  a  little  reflection  will 
show  that  no  great  contraction  of  the  crust  of  the  globe  is  required  to  feed  them. 
Violent  eruptions  do  not  usually  emit  more  than  1300  cubic  yards  of  lava,  and 
seldom  so  much.  This  quantity,  supposing  it  spread  equally  over  the  surface  of 
the  globe,  would  not  form  a  layer  so  much  as  -^th  of  a  millimetre  (or  about 
Tfi^th  of  an  inch)  in  thickness.  Thus  we  see  that  a  contraction  of  the  earth 
sufficient  to  shorten  its  radius  by  one  millimetre  would  furnish  matter  for  five 
hundred  violent  eruptions  ;  and  on  consulting  the  history  of  recent  volcanic  phe- 
nomena we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  a  contraction  of  l£  inch  is  sufficient  to 
have  supplied  the  lava  thrown  up  in  all  the  eruptions  that  have  occurred  on  our 
planet  during  the  last  3000  years. 


616  THE    UNIVERSE. 

origin  altogether  independent  of  the  forces  that  act  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  "  According  to  the  Hellenes,"  says 
M.  Elisee  Reclus,  in  his  remarkable  work  on  the  "  Earth," 
"  water  and  fire  were  two  distinct  elements.  Each  had  its 
separate  domain,  its  genii,  and  its  gods.  Neptune  reigned 
over  the  sea.  It  was  he  that  unchained  the  tempest  and 
raised  the  waves :  the  tritons  followed  in  his  train ;  the 
nymphs,  the  sirens,  and  the  monsters  of  the  deep  obeyed 
his  orders ;  and  in  the  valleys  of  the  mountains  the  solitary 
naiads  poured  in  his  honor  the  murmuring  water  from  their 
urns.  In  the  depths  of  unknown  gulfs  sat  enthroned  the 
sombre  Pluto,  Vulcan  forging  by  his  side,  with  the  anvil 
ringing  under  the  blows  of  the  Cyclopes  around  him,  while 
from  their  furnaces  belched  forth  flames  and  melted  matter 
terrible  for  mortals  to  behold.  Between  the  god  of  the  sea 
and  he  of  fire  there  was  nothing  in  common,  unless  that 
both  were  sons  of  Chronos,  that  is,  of  Time,  that  changes 
all  things,  that  overturns  and  renews,  and  by  its  incessant 
labor  of  destruction  prepares  the  place  for  the  innumerable 
germs  hurrying  to  enter  upon  life. 

^^^  But  we  shall  afterwards  see  that,  though  this  opinion 
seems  to  be  the  expression  of  the  truth,  certain  geologists 
of  the  present  day  endeavor  to  dispute  it. 

The  loftier  volcanoes  are,  the  less  frequent  are  their  erup- 
tions. The  lava  which  they  vomit  forth,  issuing  from  fur- 
naces the  depth  of  which  is  probably  the  same  in  every 
case,  it  is  clear  that  for  the  waves  to  mount  in  the  chim- 
neys of  those  which  are  very  high  a  much  greater  force  is 
required  than  in  the  others.  Thus  one  of  the  smallest  of  all, 
Stromboli,  is  always  throwing  out  flames ;  since  the  days  of 


GEOLOGY.  617 

Homer  it  has  served  as  a  beacon  to  navigators  approaching 
the  jEolian  Islands.  On  the  contrary,  the  volcanoes  which 
animate  the  crests  of  the  Cordilleras,  and  which  are  six  or 
eight  times  as  high,  seem  condemned  to  long  intervals  of 
repose,  and  in  many  cases  only  break  out  from  century  to 
century. 


231.  Goenong  A  pi,  Banda  Islands,  in  the  Moluccas.1 

The  volcanoes  which  lord  it  over  the  frozen  summits  of 
the  Andes  often  produce  phenomena  equally  striking  and 
unexpected.  When  they  melt  the  snows  which  crown  their 
craters,  their  eruptions  produce  impetuous  torrents,  which, 
precipitating  themselves,  bear  with  them  smoking  scoriae, 
fragments  of  rock,  and  blocks  of  ice. 

1  The  island  of  Goenong  Api  is  one  of  the  most  active  volcanoes  in  the  Indian 
Archipelago.  It  forms  an  immense  cone  7880  feet  high,  and  is  covered  with  lux- 
uriant vegetation  except  where  this  has  been  destroyed  by  recent  evuptions  of 
lava.  By  the  proximity  of  this  volcano  the  Banda  Islands  are  subject  to  frequent 
and  destructive  eruptions  and  earthquakes.  The  strongest  recorded  were  those 
of  1598,1615,  1632,  1691,  1711,  1798,  and  1820;  but  the  most  fatal  in  their  con- 
sequences were  those  of  1629,  1683,  1686,  1743,  and  1816.  So  terrible  were  the 
ravages  of  the  eruption  and  earthquake  of  1691  that  all  the  more  wealthy  inhab- 
itants fled  the  islands,  and  the  establishment  was  almost  totally  broken  up.  —  TR. 


618  THE    UNIVERSE. 

At  a  great  distance  most  volcanoes  look  just  like  pointed 
cones  vomiting  flames  or  vapors  by  a  very  narrow  fissure. 
But  when  patience  and  courage  have  carried  us  to  the  rug- 
ged crests  of  their  burning  mouths,  or  when  we  have  pene- 
trated their  sides,  we  are  astonished  at  the  scenes  of  grand- 
eur which  present  themselves  to  our  eyes  in  the  midst  of 
these  frightful  and  dangerous  abysses,  where  the  heat  and 
deleterious  gases  threaten  to  suffocate  the  traveller.  I  had 
felt  astonished  at  the  dimensions  of  the  ancient  craters  of 
France  and  Italy,  —  the  one  filled  up  with  lakes,  the  other 
transformed  into  forests.  I  experienced  the  same  feeling 
in  exploring  Vesuvius  and  Etna  ;  but  nothing  in  their  fiery 
mouths  can  be  compared  with  what  is  found  in  America. 
The  immense  crater  of  Orizaba,  according  to  Baron  Mliller, 
is  not  less  than  20,000  feet  in  circumference.  Persons 
standing  on  the  opposite  sides  of  it  are  almost  invisible  to 
each  other. 

On  another  mountain  in  Mexico  we  find,  again,  a  crater 
of  very  remarkable  dimensions,  that  of  Popocatepetl.  Placed 
on  the  summit  of  a  crest  in  the  Cordilleras,  from  whence 
can  be  seen  at  the  same  time  the  two  seas  which  bathe 
America,  and  in  the  distance  Mexico  encircled  by  its  fairy 
lake,  this  crater,  which  is  nearly  circular,  is,  according  to  M. 
Boscovitz,  5000  feet  in  its  longest  diameter.  The  gullet  of 
this  giant  has  never  been  disturbed  since  the  discovery  of 
the  New  World ;  but  in  former  times  it  must  have  thrown 
out  flames  abundantly,  as  thick  beds  of  its  ashes  are  found 
for  more  than  twenty  leagues  round  about.  Where  it  has 
been  possible  for  them  to  accumulate,  their  mass  sometimes 
displays  a  depth  of  more  than  fifty  metres  (about  164  feet). 


GEOLOGY.  621 

The  top  of  this  volcano  is  covered  with  eternal  snow,  and 
by  a  strange  contrast  its  once  blazing  summit,  now  almost 
extinct,  has  become  an  emblem  of  the  alliance  between  the 
rigors  of  winter  and  the  empire  of  fire.  The  crater  of  Po- 
pocatepetl is  about  1000  feet  deep.  The  descent,  which  is 
effected  by  the  assistance  of  a  cord  wound  on  a  windlass,  is 
made  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  sulphur.  Arrived  at  the 
bottom.,  we  find  a  mass  of  snow  and  long  stalactites  of  ice, 
which  hang  from  its  walls  or  occupy  the  soil  in  every  place 
where  the  sun  does  not  reach,  and  which  are  not  heated  by 
the  jets  of  hot  vapor  seen  springing  up  here  and  there. 
Some  writers  think  that  Cortez  obtained  sulphur  from  this 
mountain  to  make  powder,  when  he  ran  short  of  it.  What 
is  more  certain  is  that  some  of  his  daring  companions  tried 
to  reach  the  crater,  and  that  they  failed  the  first  time. 

The  crater  of  Masaya,  which  struck  the  first  conquerors 
of  the  New  World  with  terror,  seems  to  be  even  larger. 
Oviedo,  who  visited  it,  was  appalled.  He  relates  that  in  its 
depths  there  is  a  space  so  vast  that  a  hundred  horsemen 
could  easily  manoeuvre  in  the  presence  of  a  thousand  per- 
sons. Moreover,  at  that  time  there  could  be  seen  a  furnace 
where  a  burning  wave  rose  and  fell  at  intervals,  which  the 
pious  explorer  of  America  estimated  at  about  six  times  as 
long  as  it  would  take  to  repeat  the  Credo.  As  he  moved 
away  from  the  precipice,  quite  stupefied,  he  exclaimed,  "  I 
cannot  believe  that  a  Christian  could  contemplate  such  a 
spectacle  without  thinking  about  hell  and  repenting  of  his 
sins." 

The  fire-belching  mouths  have  always  alarmed  the  inhab- 
itants of  volcanic  countries,  and  everywhere  they  have  been 


622  THE   UNIVERSE. 

compared  to  the  gulfs  of  Tartarus.  The  crater  of  the  moun- 
tain we  have  just  spoken  of  was  called  by  the  ancient 
American  caciques  the  Hell  of  Masaya. 

"  The  island  of  Java,"  says  Elisee  Reclus,  "  owed  to  the 
beauty  and  the  violence  of  its  volcanoes  the  honor  of  being 
entirely  consecrated  to  Siva,  the  god  of  destruction ;  and  it 
was  in  the  very  craters  of  the  mountains  that  the  worship- 
pers of  terror  and  death  constructed  their  temples."  At 
the  present  day  some  pious  worshippers  of  the  terrible 
divinity  take  up  their  abode  in  the  neighborhood  of  these 
craters,  and  at  certain  times  make  them  offerings  of  seeds, 
such  as  are  used  for  food,  which  they  cast  into  their  fiery 
and  bellowing  mouths.  But  these  dreadful  volcanic  gods 
are  not  always  appeased  by  such  offerings,  and  with  the 
voice  of  th\ind$£|call  for  human  sacrifices.  "  Innumerable 
sacrifices  have  bsen  offered  to  the  volcanoes,  in  order  to 
appease  their  wrath,"  continues  the  author  of  the  "  Earth." 
"  By  a  mixture  of  fear  and  ferocity  the  priests  of  many  re- 
ligions have  with  great  pomp  thrown  victims  into  the  yawn- 
ing gulfs  of  these  enormous  furnaces.  Scarcely  three  cen- 
turies ago,  when  the  Christians  were  exterminated  through- 
out the  whole  extent  of  Japan,  converts  to  the  new  faith 
were  precipitated  by  hundreds  into  the  crater  of  Unsen,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  volcanoes  of  the  archipelago ;  but  this 
offering  to  the  offended  gods  did  not  calm  their  wrath,  for 
about  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  this  same  moun- 
tain of  Unsen  and  the  neighboring  summits  caused  by  their 
eruption  one  of  the  most  terrible  disasters  of  which  the  his- 
tory of  volcanoes  makes  mention.  Through  a  sentiment  of 
fear  analogous  to  that  of  the  Japanese  priests,  the  Christian 


GEOLOGY.  623 

missionaries  of  America  saw  in  the  burning  mountains  of 
the  New  World,  not  the  hand  of  God,  but  the  hand  of  Satan, 
and  went  in  procession  to  the  edges  of  their  craters  in  order 
to  exorcise  them.  The  legend  says  that  the  monks  of  Nic- 
aragua climbed  the  terrible  volcano  of  Momotombo  in  order 
to  quiet  it  by  their  spells,  but  never  returned,  —  the  fire 
having  consumed  them." 

Many  countries  of  our  globe,  now  buried  in  the  most  per- 
fect repose  and  covered  with  a  vigorous  vegetation,  were,  at 
an  epoch  that  cannot  at  present  be  definitely  fixed,  every- 
where convulsed  by  volcanic  fires ;  rich  harvests  now 
abound  where  formerly  rolled  burning  streams  of  lava. 
Ancient  craters  now  display  only  grass  and  moss  in  the 
depths  of  their  mouths,  which  formerly  vomited  torrents 
of  fire.  This  spectacle  is  even  met  with  in  the  centre  of 
France,  in  all  the  mountains  of  Auvergne. 

Active  volcanoes  are  common  at  the  present  time  on  the 
surface  of  the  globe.  But  by  this  it  is  not  meant  that  they 
are  agitated  by  perpetual  convulsions.  Nearly  all  awake 
to  their  terrible  activity  only  at  long  intervals,  and  during 
the  space  of  time  between  the  eruptions  their  internal  tur- 
moil is  only  revealed  outwardly  by  slight  and  deceptive 
phenomena. 

Humboldt  states  the  number  of  active  volcanoes  at  223  ; 
Keith  Johnston  raises  it  to  270,  of  which  more  than  the 
half  (190)  are  comprised  in  the  great  volcanic  belt  which 
forms  almost  a  circle  of  fire  around  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

When  a  formidable  eruption  Jbreaks  out  it  is  often  accom- 
panied by  dull  roars  which  seem  to  shake  the  mountain.  In 
a  short  time  the  fiery  mouth  launches  into  the  air  sheets  of 


624  THE   UNIVERSE. 

flame  and  smoke,  as  well  as  masses  of  cinders  and  burning 
rock.  In  1553,  in  one  of  its  most  terrible  eruptions,  Coto- 
paxi  projected  to  a  distance  of  three  leagues  blocks  of  tra- 
chyte more  than  a  hundred  cubic  yards  in  size.  During 
this  time  the  lava  escapes  with  violence  from  the  entrails  of 
the  mountain,  and  pours  over  its  sides  like  so  many  streams 
or  cascades  of  fire,  consuming  everything  in  their  path. 

In  very  lofty  volcanoes  the  lava,  in  order  to  rise  to  the 
crater  in  which  they  culminate,  must  require  an  almost  in- 
calculable force ;  hence  it  often  happens  that  it  makes  its 
way  out  before  reaching  it,  and,  having  burst  the  flanks  of 
the  mountain  near  its  base,  forms  a  small  additional  volcano, 
in  which,  for  the  future,  all  the  efforts  of  the  eruption  are 
concentrated,  and  from  which  pour  streams  of  lava  of  a 
magnitude  we  should  not  expect  from  so  low  an  elevation. 

In  high  volcanic  mountains  we  often  find  at  the  base  of 
the  great  cone  a  series  of  small  accessory  volcanoes :  as  we 
have  seen,  Etna  possesses  quite  a  family  scattered  over  its 
flanks.  In  fact,  it  is  these  that  have  in  particular  ravaged 
the  surrounding  countries. 

The  most  frightful  eruption  of  Etna  in  modern  times  was 
produced  by  one  of  these  young  volcanoes,  the  Monte  Rosa. 
From  it  issued  in  1771  the  long  river  of  lava  which  rolled 
its  burning  waves  over  a  distance  of  nine  leagues,  fired 
great  part  of  Catania,  and  only  stayed  its  passage  when  it 
plunged  into  the  sea  amidst  a  most  tumultuous  struggle  be- 
tween the  waves  and  fire. 

Notwithstanding  its  smaller  proportions,  Vesuvius  has  ex- 
perienced fearful  eruptions.  One  is  especially  celebrated 
for  the  destruction  of  two  rich  and  important  cities  which 


GEOLOGY. 


625 


rose  on  its  sides,  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.     The  former 
was  in  part  invaded  by  a  lava  stream,  the  second  absolutely 


233.  Eruption  of  Cotopaxi  in  1741. 

buried  under  a  prodigious  mass  of  ashes.  This  eruption 
took  place  in  the  year  79,  and  possibly  attracted  more  no- 
tice from  having  been  the  cause  of  the  death  of  the  natu- 
ralist Pliny  than  for  the  ravages  it  produced. 


626 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


In  our  time  Vesuvius,  in  its  throes,  nas  produced  lava 
floods  which  have  annihilated  some  small  towns.  In  1794 
its  burning  waves  submerged  all  the  habitations  in  Torre 
del  Greco.,  rising  above  their  roofs.  Recently  again  (in 
1861)  the  same  volcano  destroyed  a  part  of  this  country 
town,  which  had  been  rebuilt  after  the  disaster.1 


234.  Etna:  Cascade  of  Red-Hot  Lava  during  the  Eruption  of  1771. 

1  [In  1872  another  eruption  took  place,  which,  though  not  the  greatest  on 
record,  was  the  greatest  within  the  memory  of  man.  It  began  on  the  afternoon 
of  April  23,  without  warning  of  any  kind.  By  eight  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the 
24th  orifices  had  opened  in  the  mountain  here  and  there  on  all  sides,  sending 
down  rivers  of  lava,  and  thrusting  out  long  and  broad  tongues  of  fire,  which  now 
appeared,  now  disappeared.  These  subsidiary  cones  were  fourteen  in  number, 
and  the  lava,  issuing  from  so  many  different  points,  threatened  to  carry  devastation 
far  and  wide.  By  the  night  of  the  27th  the  horrors  had  partly  ceased,  and  the 
mountain  gradually  returned  to  its  ordinary  condition.  This  eruption  was  at- 


GEOLOGY.  627 

The  great  lava  floods  sometimes  present  a  tolerably 
smooth  surface,  like  that  of  a  river  which  has  descended 
peaceably  from  the  mountain  heights  to  the  bottom  of  the 
valley.  The  lava  then  forms  a  ready-made  road,  and  I 
have  traversed  several  which  the  fire  of  the  volcano  seemed 
to  have  thus  prepared  for  the  wants  of  man.  Bat  more 
frequently  these  immense  lava  fields,  as  is  seen  in  the  ap- 
proaches to  Etna,  Hecla,  and  so  many  other  volcanoes,  are 
contorted  and  broken,  like  a  furious  sea  which  the  wand  of 
a  fairy  had  suddenly  transformed  into  fractured  and  black- 
ened rocks,  only  that  they  are  still  more  horrible  than  any 
sea.  A  man  who  lost  himself  for  many  hours  in  these 
frightful  solitudes  would  infallibly  perish. 

Some  volcanoes  in  their  eruptions  throw  out  mud,  and 
these  occasionally  constitute  a  very  remarkable  phenome- 
non. A  very  learned  Japanese  writer,  Tit-singh,  relates 
that  in  1793  a  volcano  of  the  island  of  Kiou-siou,  one  of 
the  largest  of  the  empire,  suddenly  ejected  such  torrents  of 
liquid  matter  that  more  than  50,000  of  the  inhabitants  per- 
ished, swept  away  by  the  waves.  Similar  circumstances 
have  taken  place  in  America.  A  large  village  near  the 
equator  was  destroyed  in  1797  by  a  river  of  volcanic  mud.1 

tended  with  a  melancholy  loss  of  life,  over  twenty  persons  being  killed  on  the 
spot,  or  mortally  injured,  by  the  lava  and  mephitic  fumes  from  two  cracks  which 
suddenly  opened  in  the  ground  where  they  were  standing  for  the  purpose  of  wit- 
nessing the  magnificent  spectacle.  The  villages  of  San  Sebastiano  and  Massa  cli 
Somma  were,  to  a  great  extent,  destroyed  by  the  lava.  —  See  Volcanoes  and 
Earthquakes,  published  by  Blackie  &  Son.] 

1  [Instances  of  submarine  volcanic  eruptions  are  not  uncommon,  and  the  Bay 
of  Santorin,  the  ancient  Thera,  in  the  Grecian  Archipelago,  contains  several 
small  islands  which  owe  their  origin  to  this  cause.  The  last  eruption  occurred  in 
1866.  It  began  about  the  end  of  January,  with  a  noise  like  a  heavy  cannonade. 


628  THE    UNIVERSE. 

This  strange  phenomenon  is  due  to  a  communication  be- 
ing formed  between  a  crater  and  a  subterranean  lake  con- 
cealed in  the  side  of  the  mountain.  This  fact  also  accounts 
for  the  enormous  quantity  of  fish  mixed  with  the  water  and 
mud  which  Cotopaxi  and  other  volcanoes  of  America  some- 
times eject.  And  this  explanation  is  so  much  the  more 
plausible  because  the  species  which  is  ejected  at  such  times 
is  the  only  fish  which  lives  in  the  most  elevated  water- 
courses of  the  Cordilleras,  at  a  height  of  9000  feet.  This 
fish  belongs  to  the  family  Siluridae,  and  naturalists  have  re- 
cently given  it  the  name  of  Pimelodus  Cyclopum  (Pimelode 
of  the  Cyclopes),  in  recognition  of  the  singular  changes  to 
which  it  is  liable  in  the  course  of  existence. 

These  eruptions  containing  fish  are  not  rare.  Humboldt 
relates  that  in  one  of  them  Cotopaxi  ejected  such  a  quan- 
tity of  Pimelodes  on  the  estate  of  the  Marquis  of  Selvalegre 
that  they  poisoned  the  air  all  round.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  last  century  the  town  of  Iburra  was  ravaged  by  a 
malignant  fever,  which  was  attributed  to  the  miasmata 
arising  from  an  enormous  mass  of  these  fishes  vomited  by 
a  neighboring  volcano. 

In  a  short  time  flames  issued  from  the  sea,  ri>ing  sometimes  to  the  height  of  fif- 
teen feet.  This  continued  till  the  14th  February,  when  the  eruptions  became 
more  violent  and  the  sea  more  troubled.  Gas  forced  its  way  upwards  from  the 
bottom  with  terrific  noise,  flames  arose  in  several  places,  and  a  dense  column  of 
white  smoke  mounted  steadily  to  an  immense  height.  A  new  island  appeared 
next  morning,  which,  by  the  28th,  had  reached  a  height  of  thirty  feet,  with  a 
circumference  of  300  yards  at  the  sea-level.  It  was  composed  of  a  heap  of  loose 
clinker  and  lava.  During  this  time  a  new  volcano  had  arisen  on  the  island  of 
Neo  Kaimeni  (itself  produced  by  volcanic  action  in  1707),  and  part  of  that  island 
had  sunk  below  the  sea.  The  new  island  lay  a  little  to  the  southwest  of  Neo 
Kaimeni,  but  by  its  gradual  increase  it  became  united  with  that  island,  and  now 
forms  its  south  western  extremity.  —  TR.] 


GEOLOGY. 


629 


Astonished  at  the  grandeur  and  variety  of  volcanic  phe- 
nomena, the  learned  of  all  ages  have  sought  to  explain  the 
mystery  of  their  origin.  Numerous  hypotheses  have  been 
put  forward  for  this  purpose,  and  have  successively  fallen 
into  oblivion.  We  shall  mention  only  some  of  the  most 
celebrated. 


235.  Pimtludus  Cyclopum,  ejected  from  volcanoes. 

During  the  era  of  the  encyclopaedists,  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  all  kinds  of  audacious  theories  were  put  for- 
ward, volcanoes  were  explained  very  variously.  One  of  the 
ideas  then  most  in  vogue  was  that  they  only  resulted  from 
the  ignition  of  a  mass  of  coal  and  pyrites  which  happened 
to  be  in  the  strata  of  the  mountain  in  question. 

Lemery,  the  chemist,  proposed  another  hypothesis.  In  his 
experiments  in  the  laboratory  he  had  produced  a  sort  of 


630  THE    UNIVERSE. 

small  artificial  volcano  by  mixing  together  finely  powdered 
sulphur,  iron-filings,  and  a  little  water.  In  a  short  space  of 
time  such  an  amount  of  chemical  action  was  set  up  in  this 
mixture  that  it  took  fire.  According  to  the  professor  of  the 
Jardin  du  Roi,  similar  phenomena  take  place  in  burning 
mountains.  All  those  who  saw  this  experiment  went  forth 
convinced.  Buffon  himself  adopted  this  hypothesis.  "  Be- 
hold/' said  this  great  man,  "  what  a  volcano  is  in  the  eyes 
of  a  master  of  physics !  " 

Another  philosopher,  the  illustrious  Sir  Humphry  Davy, 
also  proposed  a  very  ingenious  chemical  theory,  —  too  in- 
genious, perhaps,  for  which  reason  it  came  less  into  favor 
than  that  of  Le'mery.  Having  discovered  certain  metals, 
potassium  and  sodium,  which  have  the  singular  property  of 
taking  fire  so  soon  as  they  are  brought  into  contact  with 
water,  the  English  chemist  supposed  that  the  flames  which 
issue  from  volcanoes  are  only  the  product  of  the  combus- 
tion of  these  metals  taking  place  in  the  depths  of  the  globe 
when  the  water  reaches  them. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  celebrity  of  its  author,  this  hy- 
pothesis had  only  a  very  brief  existence  :  phenomena  so 
powerful  and  general  could  not  have  their  source  in  local 
chemical  reactions.  The  geologists  of  our  epoch  are  almost 
unanimous  in  admitting  that  all  volcanic  phenomena  are  to 
be  attributed  solely  to  the  central  fire  of  the  globe  making 
greater  or  less  efforts  to  project  outwards  the  superfluity  of 
its  incandescent  materials.  It  is  certain  that  this  theory  ex- 
plains easily  and  better  than  any  other  what  happens  during 
eruptions,  and  all  those  who  have  visited  volcanoes  admit  it 
without  hesitation. 


GEOLOGY.  631 

However,  the  fact  that  volcanoes  are  almost  always  situ- 
ated in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sea  leads  us  to  suppose 
that  it  must  play  a  certain  part  in  their  phenomena ;  and 
such,  indeed,  is  the  opinion  of  several  philosophers  of  the 
first  rank.  According  to  M.  Sainte  Clair  Deville,  the  so- 
called  smoke  that  issues  from  volcanoes  is  composed  even  to 
the  extent  of  9 9 9- thousandths  of  the  vapor  of  water,  and  it 
is  to  the  condensation  of  this  in  the  upper  regions  of  the 
atmosphere  that  the  deluges  of  rain  that  sometimes  accom- 
pany great  eruptions  are  due.  Thus  the  ancient  legend 
would  appear  to  be  realized  that  represents  Mount  Etna 
vomiting  in  vapor  the  waves  that  are  sucked  down  into  the 
whirlpool  of  Charybdis. 

Earthquakes  are  essentially  united  to  volcanic  phenom- 
ena, and  often  accompany  them.  They  apparently  result 
from  the  effort  which  the  igneous  materials  of  the  globe 
make  to  launch  themselves  from  their  furnace.  In  coun- 
tries where  there  are  volcanoes  they  are  looked  upon  as 
being  in  some  measure  safety-valves ;  so  long  as  they  are 
in  full  activity,  and  4he  centre,  when  over-filled,  empties 
itself  by  the  fire-spouting  mouth,  the  country  is  tranquil. 

No  phenomenon  offers  such  a  dreadful  spectacle  as  the 
earthquake.  The  naturalist  who  explores  a  dangerous  vol- 
cano arrives  at  it  armed  with  patience  and  courage.  He 
knows  the  monster  he  proposes  to  face;  its  fury  is  an- 
nounced by  warning  signs ;  whilst  the  earthquake,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  entirely  annihilates  a  large  town. 

The  celebrated  earthquake  of  Lisbon  took  place  the  1st  of 
November,  1755.  Nothing  had  occurred  to  make  men  sus- 
pect such  an  occurrence,  when,  at  five-and-twenty  minutes 


632  THE    UNIVERSE. 

to  ten  in  the  morning,  at  a  time  when  the  streets  and  the 
churches  were  thronged  with  people,  a  frightful  subter- 
ranean noise  struck  all  the  inhabitants  with  stupefaction, 
and  six  minutes  afterwards  this  great  city  was  only  a  heap 
of  ruins,  under  which  lay  an  immense  number  of  victims. 

In  the  catastrophe  of  Messina,  in  1783,  the  movement 
was  still  more  rapid ;  in  two  minutes  the  town  was  utterly 
overturned,  and,  to  add  to  the  horror,  fire  devoured  the 
ruins  which  the  earthquake  had  heaped  up. 

But  if  these  shocks  thus  concentrate  their  principal  action 
upon  one  point,  —  if  a  city  collapse  entirely  without  the 
neighboring  districts  suffering  any  notable  damage,  —  vol- 
canic action,  on  the  other  hand,  is  sometimes  so  powerful 
that  it  shakes  the  crust  of  the  earth  from  one  pole  to  an- 
other. Thus  all  Europe  and  part  of  Africa  were  shaken 
when  the  commotion  of  Lisbon  took  place.  The  Alps  and 
the  Pyrenees  trembled  to  the  base,  the  sea  rose  and  fell  on 
the  coast  of  Sweden,  Norway,  the  British  Isles,  and  also 
upon  those  of  America.  At  the  time  when  Lisbon  collapsed 
all  the  richest  cities  of  Morocco  were  almost  totally  de- 
stroyed. Near  the  capital  of  this  state  an  oasis  with  8000 
or  10,000  inhabitants  disappeared. 

Earthquakes  are  sometimes  accompanied  by  very  un- 
wonted phenomena.  Some  curious  ones  were  noticed  dur- 
ing that  which  ravaged  all  Calabria  in  1785.  According  to 
Hamilton,  mountains  were  seen  to  rise  at  one  moment,  and 
sink  again  some  time  after.  Dwellings,  with  the  persons 
they  contained,  were  transported  from  one  place  to  another 
without  the  least  damage ;  some  were  moved  to  higher 
places  than  they  had  previously  occupied ;  others  descended 


GEOLOGY.  633 

quietly  into  the  valleys.     The  earth  cracked  from  place  to 
place,   and  engulfed  men  and  beasts  in  its  great  fissures. 


236.  Grand  Geyser  of  the  Firehole  Basin  in  the  Yellowstone  Region. 

At  the  time  of  such  a  disaster  it  has  been  sometimes  re- 
marked that  objects  were  carried  by  a  rotatory  movement 
which  is  quite  inexplicable.  The  upper  layers  of  the  stone 
pyramids  in  front  of  the  gate  of  the  monastery  of  St. 


634  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Stephen  del  Bosco  were  twisted  round  upon  their  axis  by 
a  circular  impulsion,  whilst  their  bases  remained  fixed. 
M.  A.  Boscovitz,  in  his  remarkable  work  on  volcanoes,  also 
relates  that  during  the  convulsion  of  the  island  of  Majorca, 
in  1851,  the  shocks  impressed  a  horizontal  rotatory  move- 
ment on  a  tower,  and  that  in  the  interval  they  lasted  it 
was  displaced  about  60°  on  its  axis. 

We  cannot  terminate  this  rapid  sketch  of  volcanic  phe- 
nomena without  mentioning  the  singular  geysers  of  Iceland, 
which  are  essentially  connected  with  them.  They  are  hot 
springs  which,  at  certain  times,  issue  from  clefts  in  the 
ground,  and  rise  into  the  air  in  the  form  of  a  great  jet  of 
boiling  water.  In  the  Great  Geyser  the  watery  eruption  is 
preceded  by  dull  sounds  like  artillery,  at  the  end  of  which 
a  jet  of  vapor  and  boiling  water  is  launched  into  the  air  to 
a  height  of  a  hundred  feet.1 

1  [The  geysers  of  Iceland  are  small  when  compared  with  those  of  the  Yellow- 
stone Region  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  From  its  remarkable  natural  features  a 
portion  of  this  region,  65  miles  long  by  55  broad,  situated  in  the  territories  of 
Wyoming  and  Montana,  has  been  set  apart  as  a  national  park.  Over  this  tract 
are  scattered  numerous  hot  springs  and  geysers,  the  most  remarkable  of  the  latter 
being  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Firehole  River.  Here  there  are  upwards  of  1500 
hot  springs  and  geysers,  showing  a  great  variety  in  their  times  of  action,  force, 
mineral  deposits,  and  color  of  water.  The  Grand  Geyser,  of  which  we  give  an 
illustration,  is  the  largest  and  most  magnificent.  It  begins  an  eruption  by  filling 
its  basin  with  boiling  water,  forming  a  well  20  by  25  feet  across,  and  having  a 
visible  depth,  when  quiet,  of  100  feet.  The  explosion  is  preceded  by  clouds  of 
steam  rushing  up  to  a  height  of  500  feet;  the  great  unbroken  body  of  water  then 
succeeds,  ascending  in  one  gigantic  column  to  a  height  of  90  feet;  while  from 
the  apex  of  the  column  there  rise  five  great  jets,  slightly  radiating,  which  shoot 
up  to  the  unparalleled  height  of  250  feet  from  the  ground.  "  The  earth  trembles 
under  the  descending  deluge  from  this  vast  fountain;  a  thousand  hissing  sounds 
are  heard  in  the  air;  rainbows  encircle  the  summits  of  the  jets  with  a  halo  of  ce- 


GEOLOGY.  635 

It  is  also  to  volcanic  efforts  that  we  must  refer  those  gi- 
gantic crystals  of  basalt  which  seeni  to  have  been  pushed 
out  of  the  earth  by  a  prodigious  force,  in  order  to  form  at 
the  surface,  in  one  place,  those  remarkable  "  giants'  cause- 
ways," which  are  a  favorite  haunt  with  the  inquiring ;  in 
another,  those  islands  and  grottoes  which,  rising  from  the 


237.  Basaltic  Cliffs  and  Causeway,  Staffa. 

bosom  of  the  waves,  astonish  us  by  their  mass  or  the  ar- 
rangement of  their  prismatic  columns,  such  as  the  rocks  of 
the  Cyclops  near  the  coast  of  Sicily,  and  especially  Fingal's 
Cave  in  the  island  of  Staffa. 

lestial  glory."  After  playing  for  about  twenty  minutes,  the  water  gradually  sub- 
sides, till  it  sinks  into  the  crater,  out  of  sight.  Another  remarkable  geyser  here  is 
the  Fan  Geyser,  which  sends  out  five  radiating  jets  to  a  height  of  60  feet,  the  fall- 
ing drops  and  spray  giving  the  appearance  of  a  feather  fan.  For  a  description 
of  these  and  other  natural  wonders  the  reader  is  referred  to  The  Wonders  of  the 
Yellowstone  Region  (Blackie  &  Son,  1874).  There  are  also  geysers  in  the  North 
Island  of  New  Zealand,  one  of  which  is  said  to  more  than  equal  the  Great  Geyser 
of  Iceland. 


BOOK   V. 


GLACIERS  AND  ETERNAL  SNOWS. 

THE  glaciers,  which  extend  their  motionless  waves  over 
the  summits  of  the  globe,  and  the  gleaming  splendor  of  the 
snowy  winding-sheet  which  envelops  them,  strike  the  trav- 
eller still  more  than  the  aspect  of  the  sea  and  the  desert. 

All  is  frightful  amid  the  frozen  solitudes  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  a  horrible  death  seems  at  each  step  to  threaten 
the  rash  mortal  who  enters  them.  On  one  side  the  ava- 
lanche threatens  to  bury  him  ;  beneath  his  feet  open  fright- 
ful chasms,  in  which  he  would  be  shattered,  while  cold  and 
hunger  may  destroy  him.  Every  day  the  names  of  new 
victims  are  inscribed  in  the  records  of  deaths,  and  yet  each 
day  some  intrepid  traveller  tries  a  new  enterprise. 

A  chamois-hunter  said  to  De  Saussure  that  his  grand- 
father and  father  had  both  been  buried  in  the  glaciers 
whilst  pursuing  game  ;  and  he  added,  with  a  feeling  of  sad- 
ness, that  he  was  certain  he  should  experience  the  same 
fate  as  they  had  done,  and  that  his  knapsack  would  be  his 
shroud  !  Yet,  in  spite  of  this,  he  would  never  renounce  his 
fatal  passion.  Some  years  after  this  conversation  the  Gen- 
evese  savant,  returning  to  this  part,  learned  that  the  hunt- 
er's sad  foreboding  had  been  realized. 


GEOLOGY. 


639 


In  Europe,  the  mantle  of  eternal  snow,  which  buries  in 
death  all  the  upper  regions  of  our  mountains,  generally  be- 
gins at  a  height  of  8900  to  9200  feet.  In  equatorial  Amer- 
ica the  limit  of  these  incessant  frosts  is  almost  half  as  high 
again,  while  at  Spitzbergen  it  sinks  to  the  level  of  the  sea 
(see  Fig.  238). 

This  imposing  shroud  of  snow,  by  its  calm  majesty,  some- 
times gives  an  air  of  fantastic  lightness  to  the  loftiest  peaks. 
When  these  are  softly  undulated,  they  are  often  taken  at  a 
great  distance  for  a  transparent  curtain  of  motionless  clouds 


2J9.  Mount  Erebus,  Antarctic  Regions. 

scattered  upon  the  horizon.  The  chain  of  the  Alps  often 
appears  like  this.  The  eye  is  frequently  deceived,  espe- 
cially towards  evening,  and  the  conviction  that  they  are 
really  mountains  is  only  acquired  by  observing  that  the 
false  clouds  do  not  undergo  the  least  change  of  form,  whilst 
if  they  were  true  ones  a  few  minutes  would  suffice  to 
change  their  outline. 

Sometimes,   also,  the  diadem   of   snow  which  crowns  a 
mountain  becomes  the  theatre  of  the  most  unusual  phenom- 


640  THE   UNIVERSE. 

ena :  fire  and  ice  are  at  war,  and  it  is  a  struggle  as  to  which 
shall  overwhelm  the  other.  This  happens  in  the  inaccessi- 
ble Erebus,  a  volcano  of  the  polar  regions,  discovered  by  Sir 
James  Ross.  Enveloped  in  snow  and  ice  from  the  base  to 
the  summit,  and  resembling  an  immense  block  of  rock-crys- 
tal, its  crater  is  yet  in  perpetual  activity. 

It  is  in  these  lofty  mountain  regions  that  we  hear  the 
thunder  of  the  avalanche  growl,  —  their  most  terrible  and 
most  imposing  phenomenon.  Here  the  traveller  may  every 
instant  enjoy  this  grand  spectacle,  for  it  is  almost  incessant 
wherever  the  snow  and  ice  extend  their  covering  over 
slightly  inclined  smooth  surfaces. 

Avalanches  are  generally  formed  by  enormous  masses  of 
snow,  which  from  the  height  of  the  mountains  precipitate 
themselves  into  the  valleys.  It  is  particularly  in  spring  and 
during  summer  that  they  occur,  at  the  time  when  the  heat 
of  the  day  makes  itself  most  felt.  At  such  times  the  least 
agitation  in  the  air  produces  the  fall.  There  has  been  only 
too  often  occasion  to  regret  their  ravages ;  they  frequently 
engulf  travellers,  and  sometimes  carry  with  them  forests 
and  villages. 

In  the  mountain  passes  where  there  is  most  reason  to 
dread  them,  the  muleteers  always  travel  before  day,  the 
time  when  they  are  least  to  be  feared ;  and  in  order  not  to 
agitate  the  air  they  observe  absolute  silence,  and  even  stuff 
the  little  bells  on  the  harness  with  linen.  But,  notwith- 
standing these  precautions,  the  avalanches  engulf  every 
year  a  certain  number  of  victims.  At  different  times  hun- 
dreds of  men  have  perished  at  once,  crushed  under  their 
mass.  The  most  deplorable  accident  due  to  this  cause  upon 


GEOLOGY.  643 

record  is  that  which  befell  four  hundred  Austrian  soldiers, 
who,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  were  buried  under  one  of 
these  falls  of  snow. 

Glaciers  are  met  with  most  frequently  in  the  valleys  of 
high  mountains.  From  thence  they  are  sometimes  seen  to 
descend  to  a  considerable  depth,  far  below  the  line  of  eter- 
nal snow,  and  display  themselves  in  the  midst  of  a  luxuriant 
vegetation,  among  the  forests  of  conifers  and  the  flowers  of 
the  valleys  which  surround  them.  In  the  Arctic  seas,  as  at 
Spitzbergen,  they  even  launch  their  gigantic  crystalline 
masses  into  the  waves  of  ocean  (Fig.  240). 

These  icy  plains,  sometimes  formed  of  obtuse  and  undu- 
lated blocks,  sometimes  bristling  with  immense  crystals,  the 
azure  of  which  contrasts  with  the  dead  white  of  the  snow, 
when  they  are  heaped  up  in  the  mountain  gorges,  appear 
to  our  eyes  like  oceans,  the  waves  of  which  have  been  solid- 
ified by  magic,  in  the  midst  of  their  most  frightful  commo- 
tions, and  destined  to  eternal  immobility.  They  are  really 
seas  of  ice,  six  to  eight  leagues  long,  which  climb  the  val- 
leys and  clear  the  elevated  passes  of  mountains  in  order  to 
cross  from  one  side  of  a  mountain  chain  to  the  other.  Fre- 
quently vast  blue  and  diaphanous  grottoes  open  at  their 
bases,  from  which  spring  fountains,  which  soon  become  im- 
petuous streams  or  rivers. 

During  fine  nights,  when  the  silvery  gleams  of  the  moon 
light  up  the  glaciers  which  wind  along  the  gorges  of  the 
Alps,  these  resemble  long  and  imposing  opal  shrouds  spread 
silently  over  the  mountain  sides,  while  their  numerous  crys- 
tals here  and  there  sparkle  pale  and  luminous. 

Notwithstanding  their  apparent  immobility,  these  seas  of 


644  THE   UNIVERSE. 

ice,  as  they  are  called,  possess  a  very  decided  movement  of 
their  own,  the  force  of  which  no  power  can  stop.  They 
constantly  tend  towards  the  base  of  the  valleys,  where  the 
milder  temperature  transforms  their  mass  into  the  water 
which  forms  our  river-sources. 

The  first  geologists  who  announced  that  glaciers  move 
like  rivers,  though  much  more  slowly,  found  their  views 
very  ill  received  by  their  colleagues. 

However,  this  phenomenon  had  been  suspected  ever  since 
it  had  been  noticed  that  a  small  stone  hut,  situated  on  the 
side  of  the  Lower  Aar  Glacier,  in  the  upper  Alps,  had  de- 
scended towards  the  valley. 

Desirous  of  clearing  up  this  mystery,  Agassiz  had  the 
courage  to  go  thither,  and  for  two  years  to  confine  himself 
to  a  residence  on  this  glacier  in  a  hut  sheltered  by  a  frag- 
ment of  rock,  —  a  rude  abode,  which,  since  the  sojourn  there 
of  the  illustrious  naturalist,  has  enjoyed  a  certain  celebrity, 
and  which  is  now  known  only  as  the  Hotel  of  the  Neufcha- 
telese.  What  a  hotel !  A  room  excavated  in  the  ice,  and  a 
bed  of  stone  covered  with  a  mattress  of  hay ! 

Soon  after  he  had  been  installed  in  this  frightful  desert, 
Agassiz  discovered  the  hut  we  have  spoken  of ;  it  had  de- 
scended about  4930  feet  in  thirteen  years,  showing  that  the 
annual  movement  of  the  glacier  was  about  380  feet. 

But,  notwithstanding  their  aspect  of  grandeur  and  ter- 
ror, notwithstanding  the  too  frequent  sacrifice  of  life  they 
occasion,  what  are  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps  in  appearance 
and  extent  when  compared  to  the  congealed  deserts  of  the 
polar  regions,  as,  for  instance,  the  glaciers  of  Spitzbergen, 
and  especially  the  Humboldt  Glacier,  which  presents  to  the 


GEOLOGY.  645 

traveller  an  impenetrable  barrier  twenty-five  leagues  in 
length  ? 

In  one  or  two  days'  travel  we  cross  the  most  redoubtable 
glaciers  of  the  Alps  ;  we  pass  the  Col  du  Geant,  or  we  climb 
Mont  Blanc.  But  in  fact,  despite  the  majestic  splendor  of 
their  cold  realms  and  charming  passes,  the  picture  of  their 
perils  and  their  extent  is  diminished  in  effect  when  they  are 
contrasted  with  the  horrible  solitudes  of  the  boreal  regions, 
where  navigators  have  wintered  several  seasons  inclosed  by 
bergs  or  mountains  of  ice,  arid  where  they  have  sometimes 
traversed  three  or  four  hundred  leagues  of  frozen  sea. 

For  long  a  sombre  and  seemingly  impenetrable  mystery 
veiled  from  us  everything  that  happened  in  these  latitudes, 
and  all  that  men  knew  of  them  was  derived  from  the 
mournful  and  obscure  legends  of  superstitious  whalers, 
until  a  painful  accident  directed  to  these  regions  the  atten- 
tion of  the  civilized  world. 

Towards  the  commencement  of  this  century  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  north  of  America,  long  considered  as  a  land 
that  prolonged  itself  over  the  pole,  was  perhaps  occupied 
by  a  sea  which  might  permit  a  passage  from  Europe  to  Asia 
by  a  shorter  route. 

Two  intrepid  navigators,  Parry  and  Ross,  had,  in  the 
course  of  their  celebrated  voyages,  in  vain  braved  tem- 
pests and  wintered  in  the  midst  of  ices  in  order  to  seek  out 
this  passage. 

But,  after  their  attempts,  a  final  expedition,  commanded 
by  Sir  John  Franklin,  already  known  for  his  Arctic  explora- 
tions, not  having  returned,  all  the  European  nations  were 
seized  with  a  strong  desire  to  find  some  traces  of  the  noble- 


646  THE    UNIVERSE. 

minded  navigator,  and  it  was  during  the  expeditions  fitted 
out  everywhere  for  this  purpose  that  the  passage  round  the 
north  of  America  was  discovered  by  Captain  M'Clure.  Be- 
ing a  man  of  great  resolution,  he  exclaimed  at  starting,  "  I 
will  discover  Franklin  or  the  passage  !  "  and  he  kept  one  of 
his  two  promises. 

Men  had  dreamed  of  the  existence  of  a  polar  sea,  but  it 
was  thought  to  be  completely  blocked  with  eternal  ice. 
Captain  Parry,  when  he  started  from  Spitzbergen  with 
sledges,  promised  himself  that  he  would  reach  the  pole 
and  plant  the  flag  of  Great  Britain  upon  the  axis  of  the 
globe.  But  in  proportion  as  the  expedition  advanced  to- 
wards the  north  over  the  frozen  sea,  he  found,  to  his  great 
astonishment,  more  and  more  openings  in  the  ice  which 
were  not  frozen  over,  and  it  became  necessary  to  return,  as 
they  were  equipped  for  travelling  on  the  ice,  not  for  navi- 
gating an  ocean. 

In  course  of  the  researches  made  in  the  north  of  America, 
with  the  view  of  discovering  the  remains  of  Franklin's  com- 
panions, it  was  found  out  that  this  region  is  formed  solely 
of  a  congeries  of  large  and  small  islands,  separated  by  tor- 
tuous channels.  The  voyages  undertaken  for  this  purpose 
have  revealed  a  host  of  surprising  facts,  and  among  others 
the  existence  of  an  immense  and  furious  sea,  the  waves 
of  which  extend  over  all  the  pole,  till  then  believed  to  be 
only  an  icy  desert. 

All  navigators  have  drawn  striking  pictures  of  the  polar 
latitudes.  Though  sometimes  on  all  sides  only  a  luminous 
sea  was  to  be  seen,  over  which  rose  fairy  and  splendid  col- 
onnades of  ice,  letting  their  rigid  stalactites  droop  on  all 


241.  A  Chain  of  Icebergs  in  the  Polar  Regions. 


GEOLOGY.  649 

sides,  more  frequently  islands  of  ice,  driven  by  the  violence 
of  tempests,  seem,  every  instant,  on  the  point  of  engulfing 
the  vessels,  or  of  inclosing  them  within  their  prodigious 
masses.1  Then  we  have,  besides,  the  monotonous  descrip- 
tions of  those  long  and  trying  winters  passed  amid  dark- 
ness and  snow,  under  latitudes  where  man  has  to  struggle 
on  all  sides  against  a  cold  which  freezes  mercury.  Here 
the  sole  event  which  sometimes  breaks  in  upon  the  uni- 
formity of  life  is  the  visit  of  some  Esquimaux  tribe,  men 
of  iron,  who  alone  resist  this  frightful  climate,  and  who, 
incredible  as  it  may  seem,  prefer  it  to  happier  countries. 
Their  appalling  nights,  six  months  long,  their  huts  of  snow, 
their  dresses  of  skins,  which  give  them  the  look  of  beasts, 
have  more  charms  for  them  than  all  the  sweets  of  civiliza- 
tion and  all  the  benefits  of  a  sun  which  daily  ripens  rich 
harvests. 

It  was  one  of  the  boldest  explorers  of  these  boreal  regions 
that  discovered  the  waves  of  the  new  ocean  beyond  the 
barrier  of  ice  which  bars  the  path  to  the  pole  against  our 
vessels. 

Breaking  up  of  an  Iceberg.  —  **  We  have  just  witnessed  what  was  for  the  mo- 
ment a  perfect  cataract  of  ice,  with  all  its  motion  and  many  times  its  noise.  Quick 
as  lightning  and  loud  as  thunder,  when  bolt  and  thunder  come  at  the  same  instant, 
there  was  one  terrific  crack,  a  sharp  and  silvery  ringing  blow  upon  the  atmos- 
phere, which  I  shall  never  forget  nor  ever  be  able  to  describe.  The  spectacle  was 
nearly  as  startling  as  the  explosion.  At  once  the  upper  face  of  the  berg  burst 
out  upon  the  air  as  if  it  had  been  blasted,  and  swept  down  across  the  great  cliff  a 
huge  cataract  of  green  and  snowy  fragments,  with  a  wild  crashing  roar,  followed 
by  the  heavy,  sullen  thunder  of  the  plunge  into  the  ocean,  and  the  rolling  away  of 
the  high-crested  seas,  and  the  rocking  of  the  mighty  mass  back  and  forth,  in  the 
effort  to  regain  its  equilibrium."  — After  Icebergs  with  a  Painter.  By  the  Rev.  L. 
L.  Noble.  —  TR. 


650  THE    UNIVERSE. 

Instead  of  finding,  as  he  advanced  towards  the  pole,  a 
more  and  more  rigorous  climate,  Captain  Morton  beheld  the 
bloom  of  a  new  spring,  and  life,  instead  of  becoming  ex- 
tinct, appeared  to  revive.  The  boreal  flora  became  richer, 
and  at  the  same  time  immense  flocks  of  ducks,  sea-gulls, 
and  other  birds  plunged  into  the  waves  or  sported  upon  the 
shores.  But  very  soon  after,  the  indefatigable  traveller, 
vanquished  by  obstacles,  and  exhausted  by  so  many  fa- 
tigues, yet  transported  with  the  view  of  the  sombre  polar 
sea  which  he  had  just  discovered,  with  a  failing  hand 
planted  his  flag  upon  a  cape  which  had  never  been  reached 
by  the  foot  of  man  ;  and  then,  pale  and  wearied,  saluted 
that  ocean  which  no  vessel  had  yet  ploughed,  and  after  a 
few  hours  of  repose  commenced  the  arduous  task  of  re 
turning. 


BOOK  VI. 


CAVERNS  AND   GROTTOES. 

THE  upheaval  of  large  mountain  chains  frequently  pro- 
duces deep  and  winding  caverns  in  their  sides.  In  some 
places  there  are  really  so  many  of  these  that  the  interior 
seems  to  be  only  a  succession  of  vast  galleries,  so  rugged 
and  profound  that  the  boldest  man  dare  not  attempt  to 
traverse  them.  This  state  of  things  is  seen  in  the  cavernous 
Alps  of  Carniola,  which  present  a  considerable  number  of 
water-courses  in  their  recesses;  indeed,  these  seem  to  be 
more  numerous  in  the  bowels  of  the  mountains  than  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground. 

Some  of  these  subterranean  rivers  are  known  to  run 
several  leagues.  They  even  nourish  peculiar  animals,  which 
never  see  the  light,  as,  for  instance,  the  Proteus,  a  singular 
animal,  provided  with  both  lungs  and  branchiae,  which  thus 
appears  to  combine  all  the  attributes  of  an  amphibious 
being. 

Among  the  numerous  grottoes  which  have  been  explored, 
there  is  one,  that  of  Antiparos  [not  far  from  Trieste],  which 
has  become  celebrated,  not  from  its  extent,  but  on  account 
of  the  excursion  which  Tournefort  made  to  it  during  his 
eastern  travels.  The  entrance  to  it  is  narrow,  and  the  de- 


652  THE   UNIVERSE. 

scent  is  effected  by  means  of  a  rope-ladder.  "  When  we 
arrive  at  the  bottom/'  says  the  celebrated  botanist,  "  we 
have  to  creep  some  time  among  the  rocks,  sometimes  on 
one's  back,  sometimes  on  one's  face,  and  after  all  this  fa- 
tigue we  at  last  reach  this  celebrated  grotto."  It  only  pre- 
sents an  extent  of  900  feet  in  length  and  a  width  of  150 ; 
but  on  every  side  the  marble  forms  clustered  pillars,  is 


242.  Proteus  of  th 3  Subterranean  Rivers  of  Caruiola:    Proteus  anguinus  (Laurenti). 

twisted  into  columns  like  the  trunks  of  trees,  or  hangs  in 
numerous  stalactites  .which  awaken  every  one's  admiration. 
These  varied  forms  astonished  Tournefort,  and  the  view  of 
them  recalled  his  favorite  hypothesis,  the  dissemination  of 
life.  "  Tt  seems,"  he  said,  "  as  if  these  marble  trunks  vege- 
tate." And  further  on,  perceiving  the  altar,  with  its  beau- 
tiful flutings  of  dazzling  whiteness,  he  exclaimed,  "This 


GEOLOGY.  653 

pyramid  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  marble  plant  in  the 
world  !  "     It  was  the  error  of  a  great  genius. 

Although  this  celebrated  grotto  is  very  small,  the  Mar- 
quis of  Nointel,  one  of  our  ambassadors  to  the  Sublime 
Porte,  took  the  fancy  of  celebrating  midnight  mass  there 
on  Christinas  Eve.  He  descended  into  the  grotto  accompa- 
nied by  a  great  number  of  persons  of  his  suite,  of  merchants 


243.  Cyprinodons  of  the  Mammoth  Cave. 

and  pirates,  and  then  had  100  torches  of  yellow  wax  and 
400  lamps  lighted  up,  which  illuminated  all  the  interior. 
At  the  moment  of  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  fireworks 
and  cannon,  arranged  at  the  entrance  to  the  grotto,  aroused 
the  echoes  with  their  detonations,  whilst  the  trumpets 
sounded.  This  being  over,  the  Marquis  of  Nointel  did 


654  THE   UNIVERSE. 

not  end  there ;  he  wished  to  sleep  in  the  famous  grotto,  to 
which  he  had  taken  such  a  fancy,  and  there  he  slept. 

Another  cavern,  the  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky,  in  the 
United  States,  owes  its  renown  not  to  the  celebrity  of  those 
who  have  visited  it,  but  to  its  extent,  which  is  perhaps 
greater  than  that  of  any  other  existing  cave. 

Although  imperfectly  known  up  to  the  present  time,  it 
has  been  found  possible  to  penetrate  about  ten  leagues  into 
it.  The  entrance  is  narrow  and  low,  but  after  progressing 
for  a  few  minutes  by  torch-light  through  a  subterranean 
passage  the  scene  changes,  and  views  of  the  most  grand 
and  varied  kind  unfold  themselves.  On  one  side  is  seen  the 
magical  splendor  of  stalactite  halls,  decorated  with  pillars 
twisted  in  a  thousand  shapes,  and  fantastic  statues  draped 
in  their  crystal  mantles ;  on  another  are  seen  regular 
churches,  formed  of  precious  stones,  gleaming  with  differ- 
ent colored  lights,  the  splendor  of  which  dazzles  the  trav- 
eller. 

In  this  obscure  labyrinth  every  spot  has  its  historical 
name.  One  is  called  the  Chamber  of  the  Spirits,  or 
haunted  chamber ;  thus  called  because  it  was  found  strewed 
with  mummies  of  Indians,  most  probably  from  the  people 
who  of  old  inhabited  this  part  of  America.  In  another 
place  a  still  more  striking  scene  presents  itself,  for  we  ar- 
rive beneath  the  Dome  of  the  Giant,  the  immensity  of 
which  strikes  one  with  stupor.  Enveloped  in  profound 
darkness,  notwithstanding  the  great  fires  lighted  by  the 
guides,  the  eye  of  the  explorer  cannot  make  out  the  cupola, 
suspended  at  a  height  of  about  430  feet  above  his  head. 

At  some  depth  below,  the  Styx  slowly  rolls  its  sad  waters 


GEOLOGY. 


657 


beneath  dark  vaults,  the  windings  of  which  are  indented  by 
a  thousand  rocks.  In  this  subterranean  river,  the  course  of 
which  we  follow  in  a  boat,  dwells  a  very  peculiar  fish,  the 
Cyprinodon,  which  is  said  to  be  blind,  and  which,  in  fact, 
ought  to  be  so ;  for  what  purpose  could  eyes  serve  in  the 
midst  of  waves  where  the  most  perfect  darkness  reigns  ! 


245.  Dead  Sea  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky. 

Further  on,  in  this  immense  Mammoth  Grotto,  filled  with 
rivers,  cataracts,  and  subterranean  lakes,  the  traveller  is 
astonished  to  find  himself  beside  a  large  sheet  of  water,  on 
which  glide  slowly  a  few  boats,  the  dull  glare  of  their 
torches  being  lost  in  the  obscurity  of  the  distance,  without 
lighting  up  the  banks  and  projecting  rocks.1  This  dark  and 
calm  mass  of  water  is  called  the  Dead  Sea. 

1  The  Mammoth  Cave  is  always  an  object  of  great  curiosity  with  the  Amer- 


658  THE   UNIVERSE. 

As  happens  in  many  of  the  cavernous  openings  in  the 
globe,  there  are  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  certain  abysses 
which  seem  bottomless.  The  guides  throw  down  ignited 
substances,  which  are  seen  to  descend  for  an  extraordina- 
rily long  time,  whirling  round  and  round,  and  at  last,  to 
the  great  surprise  of  travellers,  become  extinguished  on 
their  obscure  journey  before  they  reach  the  bottom. 

Other  cavities,  of  only  very  small  extent,  attract  the  at- 
tention of  naturalists  much  more  than  those  of  which  we 
have  spoken.  These  are  the  bone-caves,  in  which  we  find 
heaps  of  bones  of  carnivora,  principally  bears  and  hyenas, 
which  lived  at  an  epoch  very  near  our  own,  and  the  num- 

icans.  They  go  there  in  crowds,  and  there  is  not  always  accommodation  to  be 
found  in  the  great  hotel  intended  to  receive  the  tourists,  although  it  is  arranged 
for  300  guests.  The  exploration  requires  five  or  six  days,  and  an  army  of  guides 
is  always  kept  ready  for  the  service  of  travellers. 

Each,  site  in  this  celebrated  cave  bears  a  picturesque  name.  There  is  the  Starry 
Cavern,  dazzling  with  stalactites ;  the  Chamber  of  the  Spirits,  formerly  encum- 
bered with  Indian  mummies,  which  by  an  act  of  profanation  has  become  a  species 
of  refreshment-room,  where  the  wives  of  the  guides  supply  liquors  and  newspa- 
pers to  those  travellers  who  are  already  fatigued  with  the  subterranean  journey, 
and  glad  to  make  a  short  halt.  There  is  also  a  kind  of  hospital  here,  where  some 
medical  men  keep  patients  afflicted  with  chest  affections,  thinking  the  sulphureous 
atmosphere  of  these  caverns  would  be  favorable  to  them.  In  the  centre  of  this 
hall  an  almost  entire  skeleton  of  a  mastodon  has  been  set  up.  It  is  also  at  this 
part  of  the  Mammoth  Cave  that  the  wives  of  the  guides  show  and  sell  to  those 
who  care  for  such  things  the  extraordinary  little  blind  fish,  the  Cyprinodons, 
which  are  caught  in  the  water-courses  of  these  immense  caverns. 

Further  on  is  seen  the  Devil's  Arm-Chair,  which,  like  a  gigantic  crystallization, 
rears  itself,  all  gleaming,  on  the  brink  of  a  dark,  bottomless  abyss.  Besides  the 
Styx  and  the  Dead  Sea,  these  caverns,  in  which  underground  windings  20  to  25 
miles  in  length  are  known,  possess  other  bodies  of  water.  Up  to  the  present  time 
226  avenues  have  been  made  out,  besides  57  domes,  11  lakes,  7  rivers,  8  cata- 
racts, and  32  abysses,  some  of  which  are  of  an  immense  depth. 


GEOLOGY.  659 

bers  of  which  in  such  places  we  cannot  very  well  explain. 
It  is,  however,  probable  that  they  were  brought  thither 
by  currents  of  water.  Sometimes,  too,  we  find  mixed  with 
them  traces  of  the  handicraft  of  the  most  ancient  human 
races,  and  sometimes  human  crania. 

But  the  difficulties  presented  by  the  exploration  of  grot- 
toes and  mines,  the  desert  nature  of  the  country  where  their 
mouths  open,  and  the  ignorance  of  the  rude  inhabitants  of 
the  mountains,  have  always  kept  us  from  seeing  a  great 
part  of  the  treasures  scattered  in  the  ground.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  inflammable  gases,  which  by  their  frightful  rav- 
ages carry  desolation  into  mines  ;  those  poisonous  vapors, 
those  spiritus  let  hales,  as  Pliny  calls  them,  which  instantly 
destroy  life  and  extinguish  a  torch,  —  were  they  not  calcu- 
lated to  freeze  with  horror  those  who  should  dare  to  pene- 
trate into  the  abysses  of  the  mountains  ? 

Superstitious  alarms  also  long  hindered  men  from  gather- 
ing the  mineral  riches  which  the  bosom  of  the  earth  incloses. 
As  they  are  principally  found  in  countries  which  have  been 
the  theatre  of  the  most  violent  convulsions,  it  was  with  un- 
mixed terror  that  men  approached  the  wild  and  gloomy 
spots  where  they  lay  stored  up  ;  and  sometimes  gross  cre- 
dulity spread  the  belief  that  they  were  guarded  by  dragons, 
jealous  of  the  supremacy  of  their  dark  domains.  To  these 
all  the  accidents  which  happened  to  miners  were  attributed  : 
at  the  moment  when  the  fire-damp  exploded,  it  was  said 
that  they  were  seen  in  the  shape  of  horses,  with  fiery 
manes,  passing  through  the  ruins  and  the  fire. 

Pacific  spirits,  however,  everywhere  effaced  the  work  of 
these  evil  genii ;  this  was  a  rooted  belief  in  all  the  mining 


660  THE   UNIVERSE. 

districts,  brutalized  by  isolation  and  the  most  degrading  su- 
perstition. The  venerable  father  of  mineralogy,  Agricola, 
influenced  himself  by  the  legends  of  the  workmen,  in  his 
celebrated  work  describes  these  spirits  as  minutely  as  if  he 
had  held  them  in  his  hand ;  not  a  detail  of  form  or  dress  is 
wanting. 

The  belief  was  a  last  ray  of  the  antique  philosophy  which 
held  that  every  particle  of  created  matter  was  animated  by 
invisible  intelligence,  and  possessed  sensibility  and  a  spirit 
of  harmony. 

According  to  the  believers  in  the  Cabala,  there  ex- 
isted innumerable  legions  of  gnomes,  which  were  scattered 
through  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  The  humble  German 
miner  believed  there  were  elves  (Kobolds)  hidden  in  every 
nook  and  corner  of  the  caverns,  working  silently  and  spread- 
ing everywhere  activity  and  life ;  pigmies  of  the  mountains, 
dressed  like  miners,  whose  instinctive  foresight  enabled 
them  to  forge  metals,  to  heap  up  precious  stones  in  veins, 
and  also  to  collect  mysteriously  in  the  darkness  those  sin- 
gular petrifactions  which  were  one  day  to  reveal  to  us  un- 
known worlds.  Although  they  loved  him  greatly,  these 
Kobolds  fled  before  the  approach  of  man.  They  had  been 
rarely  seen,  but  every  happy  event  in  the  ancient  mines 
was  attributed  to  them.1 

1  Schleiden  took  a  far  bolder  flight  than  Agricola  had  done.  The  old  mineral- 
ogist of  Suabia  had  only  describe^  the  genii  of  earth;  Schleiden  represented  them 
at  work.  In  his  work  on  The  Plant  (La  Plante)  there  is  a  beautiful  engraving 
representing  little  gnomes  laboriously  occupied  in  laying  bare  all  the  riches  of 
earth.  Some  hew  the  rock  in  order  to  withdraw  large  trunks  of  fossilized  trees; 
others  collect  or  solder  together  the  torn  fragments.  Each  gnome  or  Kobold  ap- 
pears under  the  form  of  a  little  laborious  and  decrepit  miner.  The  background 
of  the  picture  is  occupied  by  a  cascade,  which  bounds  and  foams  among  the  rocks. 
—  Schleiden,  La  Plante,  pi.  13. 


BOOK  VII. 


STEPPES   AND   DESERTS. 

"  LET  him,"  observes  Humboldt,  "  who  wishes  to  escape 
from  the  storms  of  life,  follow  me  into  the  depths  of  the 
forests,  across  the  deserts,  or  over  the  lofty  summits  of  the 
Andes." 

The  illustrious  philosopher  was  right,  for  face  to  face 
with  these  great  scenes  of  nature  man  feels  his  passions 
and  sorrows  die  out,  and  contemplation  absorbs  all  his  be- 
ing. St.  Bernard  felt  this  deeply  when  he  said  to  his  disci- 
ples, "  Believe  my  experience  of  it :  you  will  find  in  our 
forests  something  more  choice  than  in  books  ;  the  trees  and 
rocks  will  yield  lessons  preferable  to  those  of  the  ablest 
masters." 

The  vast  solitudes  of  nature  themselves  present  their  har- 
monies and  contrasts.  Sometimes  the  deserts  only  repre- 
sent a  sea  of  sand,  calm  and  boundless  like  that  of  Libya, 
which  fills  the  mind  with  a  sense  of  infinitude.  Sometimes, 
as  in  the  steppes  of  America  and  Asia,  they  are  covered 
with  a  carpet  of  verdure.  Lastly,  other  deserts,  as  we  see 
in  the  Arabian  chain,  are  wholly  composed  of  a  stony  and 
rugged  soil,  like  the  arid  surface  of  a  planet  waiting  for  the 
creation  of  organic  life. 


662  THE   UNIVERSE. 

A  desert  of  sand  possesses  a  tranquil  beauty;  a  desert  of 
stone  is  horrible.  In  the  former  the  horizon  develops  itself 
before  our  eyes ;  it  is  accessible,  and  on  the  confines  of  it  are 
liberty  and  repose.  In  the  other  the  horizon  seems  impas- 
sable ;  death  separates  us  from  it ;  it  is  a  disordered  mass  of 
rocks,  burned  by  the  sun,  irregular  and  rugged ;  there  is  no 
practicable  road,  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine  that  a  few  hours' 
stay  in  such  a  frightful  place  would  prove  fatal  to  the  most 
robust  traveller.  The  frightful  aspect  of  such  a  desert  can 
be  well  compared  to  that  which  the  old  engravers  gave  of 
the  sea  in  a  tempest.  It  was  thus  that  the  desert  of  As- 
souan, on  the  borders  of  Nubia,  looked  to  us.1 

And  yet,  in  arid  deserts,  an  oasis  here  and  there,  rich 
in  shade  and  coolness,  rejoices  the  heart  of  the  Arab,  for 
it  is  here  that  he  quenches  his  thirst  and  rests  his  caravan. 
Poetry,  usurping  the  place  of  truth,  has  generally  promul- 
gated the  belief  that  these  spots  only  consist  of  a  group  of 
palm-trees,  protecting  with  their  foliage  some  limpid  desert 
spring,  where  the  camels  slake  their  thirst  on  their  halt. 

1  About  100  miles  south  of  Assouan  occurs  the  remarkable  desert  of  Korosko. 
For  the  space  of  two  days'  journey  southwards  from  the  town  of  Korosko  (lat.  22° 
35'  N.)  the  desert  is  covered  with  remarkable  conical  hills,  among  which  winds  the 
path  of  the  traveller.  On  the  slopes  of  these  hills  lie  moving  sands,  liable  to  be 
displaced  by  every  storm;  the  winds  disperse  them  generally  on  the  slopes  op- 
posed to  their  course.  These  hills  are  formed  of  a  quartzose  sandstone.  They 
are  not  due  to  upheavals  or  convulsions  of  the  earth's  crust,  but  are  formed  by 
horizontal  irregular  strata  of  different  density;  some  only  slightly  knit,  but  others 
united  by  argillaceous- ferrugineous  cement,  and  more  capable  of  resisting  the  de- 
structive effects  of  the  atmosphere.  The  upper  layers  are  those  that  seem  less 
hard,  but  none  of  them  are  very  homogeneous.  From  this  geological  formation 
there  result  the  most  picturesque  effects:  the  sands  are  driven  along  the  bottom 
of  the  valleys,  which  they  fill  up  horizontally  to  a  certain  height,  leaving  exposed 
only  the  tops  of  the  hills.  —  Imperial  Gazetteer.  —  TR. 


GEOLOGY.  663 

But  these  healthful  stations,  scattered  over  the  sand,  to  use 
the  expression  of  Ptolemy,  like  the  black  spots  on  the  yel- 
low hide  of  the  panther,  are  sometimes  large  spaces,  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  springs  and  sheltered  by  a  vigorous 
vegetation.  In  the  Sahara  there  are  even  some  which  form 
small  but  populous  kingdoms,  and  which  the  caravans  take 
several  days  to  cross. 

When  reviewing  the  steppes,  those  living  deserts,  other 
pictures  unfold  themselves  to  our  gaze.     In  them  we  see 


246.  The  Great  Desert  of  Korosko.     Tremaux,  Soudan  Oriental. 

diversity  of  vegetation  sharply  defined,  so  that  we  might 
fancy  each  zone  had  at  first  its  own  special  sheet  of  ver- 
dure. As  Humboldt  says,  "  The  history  of  the  vegetable 
envelope  of  our  planet,  and  of  its  gradual  propagation  over 
the  naked  surface  of  the  earth,  has  its  epochs,  like  the 
most  ancient  history  of  the  human  race." 

In  some  places  we  find  steppes  which  display  only  an 
attempt  at  vegetable  life ;  extending  over  immense  spaces, 
and  losing  themselves  in  a  boundless  horizon,  they  open  out 
before  the  eye  like  the  ocean,  but  without  offering  the 


664  THE   UNIVERSE. 

charm  of  the  perpetual  movement  of  its  waves.  Here  all 
is  lifeless  and  still. 

In  other  regions  these  great  spaces,  the  surface  of  which 
is  only  slightly  irregular,  are  covered  with  a  perfectly  uni- 
form vegetation ;  one  species  rules  there  despotically,  and 
stifles  all  the  others.  Such  is  the  spectacle  presented  by  the 
Landes  of  Bordeaux,  exclusively  pervaded  by  heath,  which, 
at  the  time  of  flowering,  waves  gently  like  a  sea  of  purple, 
whose  waves,  agitated  by  the  breeze,  melt  away  in  the 
azure  of  the  distant  horizon. 

Struck  by  the  monotony  of  their  steppes,  thickly  over- 
grown by  the  humblest  plants,  the  Mongols  named  them 
the  land  of  grass.  But  it  is  particularly  in  America,  where 
they  bear  the  name  of  pampas,  that  they  dismay  the  trav- 
eller by  their  immense  extent,  and  often  by  their  impene- 
trable nature.  There,  according  to  Humboldt,  exist  some 
which  occupy  a  space  of  16,000  square  leagues. 

Grasses  and  leguminous  plants  cover  the  surface  as  far  as 
the  eye  can  see.  In  other  places  the  steppe  bristles  with 
tall  thistles,  which  form  impenetrable  spiny  barriers. 

The  steppes  of  Southern  America,  being  covered  with  a 
light  clothing  of  plants,  and  being  periodically  inundated 
by  torrents  of  rain,  often  present  a  luxuriant  growth  of 
grasses.  These  solitudes  are  at  such  times  traversed  by 
legions  of  animals,  which  there  find  water  and  an  ample 
supply  of  nourishment. 

But  the  scene  changes  so  soon  as  the  drought  sets  in. 
Then  death  and  aridity  appear  everywhere.  The  tropical 
heat  allows  only  a  very  ephemeral  duration  for  this  luxuri- 
ant vegetation.  When  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  no  longer 


GEOLOGY.  665 

tempered  by  the  rains,  and  when  he  darts  his  vertical  rays 
upon  the  steppe  the  marshes  are  soon  dried  up,  all  the 
plants  wither  and  turn  to  dust,  and  a  sea  of  ashes  succeeds 
to  an  ocean  of  verdure.  The  extreme  heat  stupefies  the 
crocodile  and  the  boa-constrictor ;  like  the  hibernating  ani- 
mals of  the  polar  regions,  they  sink  into  the  mud,  and  re- 
main there  motionless  till  the  return  of  the  rains.  All  the 
animals  express  their  sufferings  by  deep  groans ;  a  few  only 
understand  how  to  quench  their  thirst  with  the  succulent 
stems  of  certain  Cacti,  the  spiny  armor  of  which  tears  their 
mouths  and  makes  them  bleed.1 

When  this  consuming  drought  has  wasted  or  burned  up 
the  steppe,  the  torrid  heat  kills  numbers  of  wild  animals 
which  can  find  no  place  to  slake  their  thirst,  and  their 
corpses  strew  the  ground  in  thousands.  Night  brings  no 
relief  to  such  sufferings.  Frightful  bats  attack  the  ex- 
hausted animals,  and,  like  the  vampires  of  the  old  German 
legends,  suck  their  blood,  only  that  they  assail  living  flesh 
and  blood  instead  of  betaking  themselves  to  the  corpses  in 

1  "  The  mules,"  says  Ilumboldt,  "  more  circumspect  and  wily,  endeavor  to 
satisfy  their  thirst  in  another  manner.  A  plant  of  spherical  form,  and  bearing 
numerous  flutings,  the  Melocactus,  contains  a  very  watery  pulp  under  a  spiny  en- 
velope; the  mule,  by  means  of  its  fore-feet,  separates  the  spines,  puts  down  its 
mouth  carefully,  and  ventures  to  drink  the  refreshing  juice.  But  it  cannot  always 
drink  at  this  living  vegetable  spring  without  danger.  Animals  are  often  seen 
which  have  been  lamed  in  the  hoof  by  the  spines  of  the  cactus. 

**  To  the  burning  heat  of  day  succeeds  the  freshness  of  the  night,  which  equals 
the  day  in  duration ;  but  the  cattle  and  horses  cannot  even  then  enjoy  repose. 
During  their  sleep  monstrous  bats  fasten  like  vampires  on  their  backs,  suck  their 
blood,  and  occasion  purulent  sores,  in  which  horse-flies,  mosquitoes,  and  a  host 
of  other  stinging  insects  establish  themselves.  Such  is  the  painful  life  of  these 
animals  so  soon  as  ever  the  heat  of  the  sun  has  made  the  water  disappear  from 
the  face  of  the  earth." —  Humboldt,  Tableaux  de  la  Nature,  b.  i.,  s.  39. 


666  THE   UNIVERSE. 

the  graveyards.  Man  himself  is  not  safe  from  their  vorac- 
ity. When  some  traveller,  overtaken  by  night,  falls  asleep 
in  the  open  air,  he  wakes  in  the  morning  greatly  exhausted, 
scarcely  able  to  stand  upright,  and  finds  one  of  his  feet  in  a 
pool  of  blood.  This  is  the  work  of  the  vampires,  as  they 


247.  Travellers  attacked  by  Vampires. 

are  called,  which  have  assailed  him  during  the  night  with  so 
much  skill  and  precaution  that  he  has  not  been  even  awak- 
ened by  their  punctures.1 

1  It  is  really  from  their  habit  of  sucking  the  blood  of  animals  that  naturalists 
have  given  them  the  name  of  vampire.  La  Condamine  asserts  that  they  exhausted 
and  destroyed  the  earliest  troops  of  cattle  and  sheep  which  were  imported  into 
some  regions  of  America.  Man  himself  is  not  safe  from  the  attacks  of  these  bats. 
The  traveller  Azara  was  several  times  bitten  when  sleeping  without  shelter.  The 
wound  is  like  that  of  a  leech,  and  is  not  perceived  till  waking,  when  the  feeble- 
ness which  results  is  felt,  and  the  blood  is  seen  all  round. 


GEOLOGY.  667 

After  the  sufferings  occasioned  by  the  heat,  the  dangers 
of  inundation  ensue.  Some  steppes  in  America  are  then 
totally  submerged  by  the  overflowing  of  the  rivers,  and 
only  look  like  a  vast  sea,  which  threatens  the  animals  with 
imminent  death.  Some  seek  a  refuge,  and  gather  in  groups 
on  the  heights.  Many  are  drowned  ;  others  are  attacked 


248.  The  American  Vampire:   Vampirus  spectrum  (Linnaeus). 

and  devoured  by  the  crocodiles,  which  have  now  regained 
all  their  vigor.  A  redoubtable  eel,  the  Gymnotus  electricus, 
adds  to  the  dangers  run  by  the  mammals,  the  shocks  it  gives 
being  powerful  enough  to  kill  even  horses.1 

1  Humboldt  says  that  it  is  not  only  the  crocodiles  and  jaguars  that  lay  snares 
for  the  horse.  This  animal  has  also  a  formidable  enemy  among  the  fish.  The 
marshy  waters  of  Bera  and  Rastro  are  filled  with  electric  eels,  the  slimy  bodies  of 
which,  covered  with  yellow  spots,  spontaneously  emit  violent  shocks  in  every  di- 


668  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  aspect  of  the  desert  is  more  monotonous.  With  the 
exception  of  the  oases  which  it  displays  here  and  there,  it  is, 
in  Africa,  completely  arid.  In  one  of  the  deserts  of  Upper 
Egypt,  situated  between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  the  eye 
only  perceives  an  unbroken  sheet  of  burning  sand.  And 
yet  upon  its  borders  I  found,  to  my  great  surprise,  braving 
the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  never  refreshed  by  a  single  drop  of 
water,  numerous  tufts  of  an  asclepiad  (Asdepias  procera, 
Willd.),  the  large,  moist,  and  velvety  leaves  of  which  glis- 
tened with  freshness.  It  was  an  inexplicable  problem  ! 

But  this  last  effort  of  life  soon  disappears,  and  we  see  be- 
fore us  only  an  ocean  of  sand  and  a  horizon  of  death.  Not 
a  cry,  not  a  murmur,  is  heard,  and  scarce  even  a  loitering 
vulture  devours  the  last  fragments  of  some  camel  which 
has  fallen  on  the  sand,  and  the  bleached  skeleton  of  which 
will  soon  be  added  to  so  many  others  now  marking  out  the 
desert  routes.  Not  a  cloud  tarnishes  the  azure  of  the  sky, 
not  a  breath  refreshes  the  air ;  a  sun,  the  ardor  of  which 
nothing  moderates,  pours  down  its  sparkling  light  and  fiery 
rays,  burning  even  through  one's  clothes.  The  motionless 
and  heated  atmosphere  tortures  the  face  with  its  fiery 

rection.  These  Gymnoti  (the  name  they  are  known  by  in  science)  are  five  to  six 
feet  long;  they  are  strong  enough  to  kill  the  most  robust  animals  when  they  put  in 
action  all  their  organs,  armed  as  they  are  with  an  apparatus  of  numerous  nerves,  at 
the  same  time  and  in  a  suitable  direction.  At  Uritucu  it  had  become  necessary  to 
change  the  road  across  the  steppe,  owing  to  the  eels  having  so  increased  in  a  little 
river  that  every  year  many  horses,  struck  with  paralysis,  were  drowned  in  pass- 
ing the  ford.  All  the  fish  fly  before  the  approach  of  these  formidable  eels.  They 
even  assail  unawares  men  fishing  with  a  rod,  the  moistened  line  often  forming  a 
medium  for  communicating  the  fatal  shock.  In  this  case  the  electric  fluid  is  dis- 
charged even  from  the  bottom  of  the  water.  —  Humboldt,  Tableaux  de  la  Nature, 
t.  i.,  p.  45. 


GEOLOGY.  669 

breath,  and  even  the  sand  attains  an  extreme  heat ;  my 
thermometers  being  broken,  I  tried  to  ascertain  the  temper- 
ature by  plunging  my  hands  into  the  superficial  layers,  but 
at  the  end  of  a  few  seconds  a  stinging  pain  compelled  me  to 
withdraw  them.  The  soil,  also,  by  reflecting  the  solar  rays 
from  the  sparkling  fragments  of  mica  and  quartz,  sometimes 
becomes  insupportably  dazzling  to  the  eye. 

Instead  of  the  rolling  waves  and  cool  breezes  of  the  sea, 
this  funereal  region  only  gives  out  burning  gusts,  scorching 
blasts  which  seem  to  issue  from  the  gates  of  hell ;  these 
are  the  simoom,  or  poison-wind,  as  the  word  signifies  in 
Arabic.  The  camel  driver  knows  this  formidable  enemy, 
and  so  soon  as  he  sees  it  looming  in  the  horizon  he  raises 
his  hands  to  heaven  and  implores  Allah  ;  the  camels  them- 
selves seem  terrified  at  its  approach.  A  veil  of  reddish- 
black  invades  the  gleaming  sky,  and  very  soon  a  terrible 
and  burning  wind  rises,  bearing  clouds  of  fine,  impalpable 
sand,  which  severely  irritates  the  eyes  and  makes  its  way 
into  the  respiratory  organs. 

The  camels  squat  down  and  refuse  to  move,  and  the  trav- 
ellers have  no  chance  of  safety  except  by  making  a  rampart 
of  the  bodies  of  their  beasts,  and  covering  their  heads  so  as 
to  protect  themselves  against  this  scourge.  Entire  caravans 
have  sometimes  perished  in  these  sand-storms ;  it  was  one  of 
them  that  buried  the  army  of  Cambyses  when  it  was  trav- 
ersing the  desert. 

Maxime  du  Camp,  in  his  charming  work  on  the  Nile,  de- 
scribes in  the  following  terms  one  of  these  desert  tempests, 
to  the  least  violent  of  which  the  name  khamsin  is  given  in 
Egypt.  "  It  comes  towards  one,"  he  says,  "  growing,  spread- 


670  THE   UNIVERSE. 

ing,  and  advancing  as  if  on  wheels.  Its  overhanging  sum- 
mit is  of  a  brick  color,  its  base  deep  red  and  almost  black. 
In  proportion  as  it  approaches  it  drives  before  it  burning 
effluvia,  like  the  breath  of  a  lime-kiln.  Before  it  reaches  us 
we  are  covered  with  its  shadow.  The  sound  it  makes  is  like 
that  of  a  wind  passing  through  a  pine  forest.  So  soon  as 
we  are  in  the  midst  of  this  hurricane  the  camels  halt,  turn 
their  backs,  throw  themselves  down,  and  lay  their  heads 
upon  the  sand.  After  the  cloud  of  dust  comes  a  rain  of  im- 
perceptible stones,  violently  hurled  about  by  the  wind,  and 
which,  if  it  lasted  long,  would  quickly  flay  the  skin  from 
those  parts  of  the  body  unprotected  by  the  clothes.  This 
lasted  five  or  six  minutes,  and  was  frightful.  Then  the  sky 
became  clear  again,  and  gave  the  same  feeling  of  sudden 
change  to  the  eye  as  a  light  suddenly  brought  into  a  dark 
place." 

It  is  in  the  sand  deserts  that  the  phenomenon  of  the  mi- 
rage takes  place  most  frequently.  I  was  enabled  to  see  it 
once  in  all  its  splendor. 

The  captain  or  reis  of  our  escort  had  asked  leave  to  stay 
at  a  part  of  the  Nile  where  stood  one  of  his  harems,  in  order 
to  pass  the  day  there  with  his  wives  and  family.  I  say  one, 
for  he  had  several,  ingeniously  established  along  the  river, 
the  scene  of  the  continual  voyages  which  he  made.  He 
stopped  by  successive  stages  at  each  of  his  establishments, 
in  such  a  way  as  not  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  any  of  the 
sultanas  whom  he  maintained. 

I  had  profited  by  this  halt  to  make  an  excursion  into  the 
desert,  and  had  started,  when  the  reis,  seeing  me  in  the  dis- 
tance, came  with  some  Arabs  of  his  tribe  to  beg  I  would 


GEOLOGY.  671 

accept  the  hospitality  of  his  roof.  In  the  East,  to  refuse 
such  an  offer  would  be  almost  an  offence,  so  I  turned  to- 
wards the  oasis  which  he  inhabited.  It  was  a  delicious  ham- 


249.  The  Mirage  in  the  Desert. 

let,  crowned  with  date-trees,  and  the  entrance  to  it  was  pic- 
turesquely decorated  with  some  tombs  of  a  most  charming 
appearance. 


672  THE   UNIVERSE. 

After  the  frugal  repast  of  dates  and  milk  which  was 
offered  me,  I  plunged  into  the  desert,  and  I  was  already  at 
a  distance,  when  the  idea  came  into  my  head  to  salute  this 
hospitable  abode  for  the  last  time.  But  everything  was 
transformed.  The  picturesque  village  seemed  enveloped  in 
a  magnificent  sheet  of  the  most  transparent  waters,  in  which 
the  -dwellings,  palm-trees,  and  tombs  were  reflected  in  a 
marvellous  manner.  The  phenomenon  was  produced  with 
such  exactness,  and  the  sheet  of  water  was  so  beautiful  and 
limpid,  that  if  I  had  not  a  few  minutes  previously  trav- 
ersed the  spot  which  it  occupied  on  the  burning  sand  I 
should  have  thought  it  real.  Such  is  the  mirage,  which  so 
often  and  so  painfully  deceived  our  worn-out  soldiers  when 
they  traversed  these  very  regions.  Exhausted  with  fatigue 
and  dying  of  thirst,  they  thought  they  saw  in  the  distance 
the  water  they  longed  for  so  much,  while  it  was  only  a  bit- 
ter delusion  ! 

Yet  other  phenomena  engage  the  view  of  those  who  trav- 
erse the  deserts  of  Africa.  Among  these  is  the  rising  of 
the  sun,  the  splendor  of  which,  as  Byron  says,  is  without 
equal ! 

After  traversing  the  great  cataract  of  the  Nile,  we  re- 
solved to  rest  for  a  few  days  in  the  island  of  Philae,  situated 
at  the  entrance  into  Nubia.  So  soon  as  we  had  anchored 
our  boats  on  the  east  shore  of  the  sacred  island,  crowded  as 
it  is  with  religious  monuments,  we  set  to  work  to  erect  our 
tent  on  the  platform  of  one  of  the  great  gate-towers  or  py- 
lones  of  the  temple  of  Isis.  It  so  happened  that  there  was 
at  this  place  a  complete  gathering  of  scientific  men  :  M. 
Grimaux,  my  friend  and  travelling  companion,  whom  Eouen 


GEOLOGY.  675 

numbers  among  her  chosen  men  of  eminence ;  Captain  Tui- 
fort,  who  commanded  the  advanced  guard  in  the  expedition 
to  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  which  we  had  just  rejoined,  and 
my  sons,  Georges  and  James  Pouchet :  the  one  natural- 
ist to  the  expedition,  the  other  an  engineer  on  the  Suez 
Canal.  There,  each  evening,  plunged  in  melanholy  medita- 
tion, and  tranquilly  reclining  on  the  ancient  balustrade  of 
the  building,  I  watched  the  setting  of  the  sun  as  it  sank  be- 
hind rocks  as  black  as  ebony ;  and  there  also,  having  slept 
under  the  open  sky,  I  rose  so  soon  as  the  first  gleams  of  day 
began  to  disperse  the  night,  in  order  to  seat  myself  upon 
the  lofty  parapet  of  the  great  gate-tower,  in  order  to  enjoy 
the  indescribable  spectacle  of  the  dawn. 

The  setting  of  the  sun  is  each  day  the  same  uniform 
spectacle.  Kolling  through  a  sky  of  which  its  rays  have 
absorbed  all  the  vapors,  it  plunges  into  the  sea  of  sand  like 
an  immense  globe  of  fire  hung  in  a  burning  horizon.  After 
its  disappearance,  the  blazing  luminary  only  leaves  a  fiery 
hue,  which  extends  over  an  immense  portion  of  the  distant 
plain.  If  at  this  time  a  caravan  happen  to  pass  the  desert 
on  the  west  of  us,  the  men  and  camels  are  clearly  defined 
against  the  reddish  tint  of  the  sky,  like  so  many  animated 
silhouettes  of  an  intense  blackness ;  they  might  be  taken 
for  some  of  the  well-known  Chinese  shadows.  Then  all  at 
once  the  night  comes  on,  for  the  twilight  in  these  burning 
zones  is  only  of  short  duration. 

The  dawn,  on  the  contrary,  is  infinitely  varied,  and  pre- 
sents by  turns  the  most  majestic  spectacle  one  can  imagine. 
The  freshness  of  night  has  condensed  all  the  vapors  on  the 
surface  of  the  desert,  and  the  lamp  of  day  which  lights  us 


676  THE    UNIVERSE. 

has  first  of  all  to  disperse  the  thick  veil  of  mist,  ere  it  can 
appear  in  all  its  splendor. 

In  our  foggy  country,  night  fades  away  in  tranquil  maj- 
esty. When  dawn  begins  to  appear  behind  the  forest  or  the 
icy  diadem  of  the  mountain,  the  first  gleams  of  day  scarcely 
illume  the  pale  azure  of  the  sky.  And  if  we  were  permit- 
ted to  see  our  pale  Aurora  athwart  the  last  folds  of  the 
tunic  of  Morpheus,  she  would  appear  with  that  fresh  and 
pleasing  countenance  which  ancient  poesy  gave  her. 

But  in  the  East,  that  palace  of  light,  this  phenomenon 
shows  itself  in  forms  as  varied  as  they  are  marvellous ;  the 
richness  of  our  most  fairy-like  decorations  is  left  behind  by 
reality.  When  the  paling  splendor  of  the  constellations  an- 
nounces the  advent  of  day,  the  region  where  the  sun  is 
soon  to  launch  himself  into  the  heavens  is  covered  with  an 
immense  and  thick  black  curtain.  In  a  short  time  this  som- 
bre veil  of  clouds  is  irregularly  rent,  as  if,  in  their  aerial 
dances,  the  joyous  sylphs  had  torn  it  here  and  there,  in  order 
to  discover  to  us  the  dazzling  fire  on  the  horizon.  Then  the 
Nubian  Aurora  appears,  looking  as  if  she  had  issued  from 
the  furnaces  of  Etna.  She  is  no  longer  the  fresh  and  timid 
goddess,  whose  tears  distil  in  transparent  pearls  on  our 
morning  flowers,  but  an  intoxicated  bacchante,  with  burn- 
ing eye  and  purple  visage,  whose  black  tresses  float  loosely 
over  the  azure  vault,  and  who,  with  fingers  of  fire,  opens  the 
blazing  gates  of  the  East.  Then,  sparkling  coruscations  are 
shot  from  every  fragment  of  night's  mantle,  which  breaks 
up  in  all  directions,  whilst  the  festoons  on  high  allow  us  to 
catch  a  glimpse  between  them  of  celestial  vistas  of  sapphire 
and  opal. 


BOOK  VIII. 


THE  AIR  AND  ITS  CORPUSCULES. 

THE  aerial  ocean  which  envelops  the  earth  is  from  fifteen 
to  sixteen  leagues  high.  It  is  the  medium  for  diffusing  ani- 
mation and  life,  and  its  disappearance  would  be  immediately 
followed  by  a  general  destruction  of  animals  and  plants,  and 
the  silence  of  death. 

The  vital  principle  of  the  air,  or  oxygen,  enters  into  its 
composition  to  the  extent  of  tW.  It  has  been  generally 
thought  that  this  element  is  found  in  the  same  proportion 
over  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe.  According  to  M.  Mar- 
tins, the  air  of  the  Faulhorn,  one  of  the  highest  mountains  in 
Switzerland,  yields  the  same  percentage  of  oxygen  as  that 
of  Paris. 

Paradoxes  have  always  had  a  certain  success.  Some 
chemists  have  maintained  that  the  air  in  hospitals,  drains, 
and  even  the  foulest  places,  maintains  all  its  purity.1  Not- 
withstanding these  different  assertions,  as  a  great  deal  of 
oxygen  is  consumed  in  populous  cities,  whilst  plants  are 
continually  pouring  it  out  into  the  atmosphere,  it  seemed  a 
priori  as  if  we  ought  to  find  more  respirable  gas  in  the  air 

1  In  a  prize  memoir  of  a  provincial  academy,  Julia  Fontenelle  has  maintained 
that  the  air  of  hospitals,  and  even  of  sewers,  is  as  pure  as  that  of  our  fields. 


678  THE   UNIVERSE. 

of  the  country  than  in  that  of  towns.  Experience  began  by 
invalidating  this  view  ;  then  it  was  found  that  the  respirable 
gas  is  nevertheless  a  little  more  rare  in  the  latter  than  in 
the  midst  of  the  fields.  M.  Houzeau,  one  of  our  most  able 
chemists,  in  some  experiments  carried  on  upon  a  large  scale, 
found  that  oxygen  is  really  a  little  more  abundant  in  the 
depths  of  forests,  which  distil  it  incessantly  from  every  pore 
of  their  leaves,  than  in  our  towns,  where  a  hundred  thousand 
mouths  absorb  and  consume  it. 

This  is  what  we  know  for  certain  relative  to  the  chemical 
composition  of  the  air;  let  us  now  speak  of  its  microscopy, 
so  easy  to  study,  and  which  has  yet  given  rise  to  so  many 
puerile  fables. 

The  ancient  theogonies,  full  of  mystery  and  poesy,  peo- 
pled space  with  an  infinity  of  invisible  and  charming  divin- 
ities, who  animated  every  part  of  creation.  The  gnomes 
were  scattered  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  the  fire  had  its 
salamanders,  the  naiads  sported  beneath  the  crystal  waters, 
and  the  sylphs,  light  and  diaphanous  as  the  plains  of  air, 
everywhere  lent  life  to  the  atmosphere  in  the  long  and 
graceful  gyrations  of  their  dances. 

Modern  philosophers,  without  being  more  precise  than 
antiquity,  have  been  less  happy.  Instead  of  sylphs  they 
have  filled,  nay,  surcharged,  the  air  with  an  incalculable 
quantity  of  germs,  always  ready  to  shed  everywhere  fe- 
cundity and  life.  Fiction  for  fiction,  we  like  that  of  our 
predecessors  better ;  it  is  much  more  attractive,  and,  more- 
over, much  less  crude. 

By  means  of  these  germs  disseminated  in  every  part,  and 
entering  by  myriads  wherever  the  vehicle  in  which  they 


GEOLOGY.  679 

live  finds  access,  the  learned  of  the  eighteenth  century  ex- 
plained the  appearance  of  those  innumerable  swarms  of 
microscopic  animals  or  plants  which  inevitably  attack  all 
created  things  given  up  to  putrid  disorganization. 

Nothing  could  evade  their  terrible  inroads.  The  won- 
derful minuteness  of  these  destructive  agents  allowed  them 
to  clear  all  obstacles,  and  to  insinuate  themselves  into  the 
most  sheltered  cavities  !  Human  intelligence  was  quite  at 
fault  in  attempting  to  penetrate  into  the  secret  of  their 
transmission  through  the  most  compact  tissues  of  animals 
and  plants. 

In  order  the  better  to  prop  up  their  systems,  at  an  epoch 
when  the  talent  of  the  orator  was  often  substituted  for  real 
learning,  some  of  the  philosophers  attributed  most  paradox- 
ical properties  to  these  germs.  It  was  as  much  as  glass 
could  do  to  stay  their  invasion,  or  the  hottest  furnace  to 
consume  them.  Nothing  arrested  Bonnet  on  the  subject  of 
these  germs ;  he  believed  that  they  resisted  the  most  de- 
structive chemical  agents ;  and  even  maintained  that  by 
means  of  a  circulation  which  was  more  than  marvellous 
they  penetrated  the  entire  economy  of  animated  beings.1 

1  "Every  organized  body,"  says  Bonnet,  "  presents  itself  to  me  under  the 
image  of  a  little  earth,  where  I  perceive  in  miniature  all  the  species  of  plants  and 
animals  which  are  found  on  a  large  scale  on  our  globe.  An  oak  appears  to  me 
composed  of  plants,  insects,  shells,  reptiles,  fish,  birds,  quadrupeds,  and  even 
men.  I  see  innumerable  germs  rise  into  the  roots  with  the  juices  designed  for 
their  nutrition.  I  see  them  circulate  in  the  different  vessels  and  lodge  in  the 
thickness  of  their  membranes  in  order  to  augment  their  growth  in  every  direction." 

Who  would  believe,  then,  that  such  a  science  found  supporters  in  the  nineteenth 
century?  Yet  this  has  taken  place.  M.  Le  Vicomte  Gaston  d'Auvray,  in  order  to 
save  from  shipwreck  the  old  doctrine  of  panspermism  and  the  theories  of  M.  Pas- 
teur, has  assumed  that  there  exist  in  the  air  myriads  of  eggs  and  spores,  the  vital- 
ity of  which  resists  boiling  for  eight  hours,  and  even  a  white  heat. 


680  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  supporters  of  the  unlimited  dissemination  hypothesis 
did  not  stop  here :  one  absurdity  brings  others  in  its  wake. 
Some  of  them,  falling  back  into  the  conceptions  of  the  her- 
metic philosophy,  constituted  these  germs  imperishable 
metaphysical  entities,  descended,  according  to  them,  from 
the  Mosaic  creation,  capable  of  traversing  ages  and  cata- 
clysms, and  arriving  at  our  epoch  full  of  fecundity  and  life. 

All  this  was  the  result  of  one  false  idea ;  for  if  the  air 
were  filled  with  all  the  generative  elements  which  would  be 
necessary  to  its  part  of  universal  dissemination,  it  would  be 
so  thick  that  we  could  not  move  about  in  it,  and  we  should 
be  plunged  in  the  most  profound  darkness.  In  fact,  if  some 
globules  of  the  vapor  of  water  are  sufficient  to  produce  thick 
and  choking  fogs,  which,  as  at  London,  often  force  us  to 
have  recourse  to  links  in  mid-day,  what  would  the  atmos- 
phere be  if  it  were  loaded  with  eggs  and  seeds  ? 

The  name  of  panspermism  has  been  given  to  this  pre- 
tended universal  dissemination  of  the  reproductive  bodies 
of  animals  and  plants.  But  this  perfectly  gratuitous  hy- 
pothesis falls  so  soon  as  it  is  submitted  to  the  criterion  of 
observation. 

There  a  replants  which  only  appear  under  circumstances 
so  exceptional  and  so  extraordinary  that  the  mind  revolts 
at  the  idea  of  their  tiny  seed  loading  the  atmosphere  for 
century  after  century,  in  order,  at  long  intervals,  to  fertilize 
some  imperceptible  part  of  the  globe.  This  would  be  in- 
utility  in  immensity. 

A  fungus  is  known,  which  never  grows  except  on  the 
bodies  of  dead  spiders  ;  another  only  appears  on  the  surface 
of  horses'  hoofs  in  a  state  of  putrefaction.  One  little  para- 


251.  The  New  Zealand  Swift-Moth  (Hepialus  virescens)  and  its  Larva;  the  latter  with  a 
Fungus  (Cordiceps  Robertsii)  growing  on  it  and  rooted  by  it  in  the  Soil. 


GEOLOGY.  683 

site  of  the  same  family,  the  Isaria  of  the  sphinx,  has  hith- 
erto only  been  observed  on  certain  nocturnal  moths.  The 
chrysalides  and  larvae  of  these  are  never  attacked  by  it ; 
other  species  infest  them.  Unless  one  possessed  the  imagi- 
nation of  a  Bonnet,  is  it  possible  to  suppose  that  nature 
would  uselessly  have  burdened  the  air  of  the  whole  globe 
for  the  mere  purpose  of  scattering  seed  on  the  bodies  of  a 
few  spiders  and  moths,  and  that  there  was  always  a  stock 
ready  for  the  perfect  insect,  its  chrysalis,  and  its  larva  ? 

Still  more  curious  facts  are  known ;  for  instance,  that  of 
a  fungus  never  found  but  on  the  neck  of  a  caterpillar  of 
tropical  countries.  It  is  always  solitary  on  this,  and  of  enor- 
mous size  in  proportion,  being  often  four  to  five  inches  high. 
In  this  fortuitous  case,  is  the  air  necessarily  choked  with 
seeds  in  order  that  from  time  to  time  one  may  be  planted  on 
a  particular  spot  not  more  than  a  square  millimetre  (.00155 
square  inch)  in  extent  ? 

As  a  particular  vegetation  is  present  in  every  form  of 
fermentation,  its  germs,  according  to  the  panspermists,  must 
have  floated  loose  in  the  atmosphere  from  creation  up  to 
the  time  when  any  new  fermented  liquor  was  discovered. 
Did  they  rest  so  many  ages  unoccupied,  awaiting  the  mo- 
ment when  Osiris  invented  beer?  And  even  now,  does  the 
atmosphere,  loaded  with  these  little  seeds,  drift  them  from 
pole  to  pole,  till  the  Greenlander  or  Patagonian  sets  to  work 
to  brew  a  few  quarts  of  this  drink,  or  till  it  can  fecundate 
the  new  ferments  which  each  chemist  may  invent  in  the 
silence  of  his  laboratory  ? 

If  it  really  were  so,  we  might  groan  over  the  fate  of  the 
atmosphere  ! 


684  THE   UNIVERSE. 

Again,  botanists  are  acquainted  with  a  peculiar  plant,  the 
Racodium  cellare,  which  has  never  been  found  except  on 
the  casks  in  our  cellars.  Where  did  the  germs  dwell  before 
these  were  invented,  during  the  long  ages  when  our  fore- 
fathers only  employed  amphorae  ? 

Berard,  a  physiologist  of  the  faculty  of  medicine,  even 
speaks  of  a  plant  which  only  lives  on  the  drops  of  tallow 
which  the  miners  in  working  let  fall  upon  the  soil.  Were 
the  seeds  of  this  singular  species  produced,  then,  at  creation, 


0    9 


252.  Spontaneously  formed  Microscopic  Grains  which  are  found  in  Fermentations  : 
Cryptococcus  cerevisias  (Auct.)- 

in  anticipation  that  mines  would  be  worked  by  the  aid  of 
our  common  means  of  lighting  ? 

Lastly,  do  not  all  botanists  know  that  every  sick  or  dy- 
ing plant  is  certain  to  be  attacked  by  its  special  parasite  ? 
There  is  no  explaining  the  introduction  of  the  seedlets  of 
this  fatal  guest,  and  we  may  say  that  there  are  as  many 
varieties  as  there  are  species  of  plants.  Who,  then,  could 
dare  to  maintain  that  the  air  suffices  to  furnish  so  many 
destructive  germs  ? 

Reason  revolts  before  so  daring  a  supposition.  In  fact,  if 
panspermism  were  anything  but  a  fiction,  the  atmosphere 
ought  to  be  so  obstructed  with  eggs  and  seeds  that  all 
movement  and  respiration  would  become  impossible,  and  we 
should  perish  by  suffocation. 

Microscopy  has  by  one  single  word  forever  overturned 


GEOLOGY.  685 

this  strange  hypothesis.  It  says,  "  These  eggs  and  these 
seeds  are  tangible  things ;  one  can  generally  feel  and  see 
them ;  whoever  speaks  of  them  is  bound  to  show  them. 
Then  show  them  !  "  But  this  is  what  no  one  has  yet  done. 

I  have  vainly  sought  for  these  atmospheric  germs,  in- 
vented to  support  certain  hypotheses,  and  have  never  been 
able  to  find  them.  Two  observers,  equally  illustrious  for 
their  learning  and  the  splendor  of  their  diction,  P.  Mante- 
gazza,  of  the  University  of  Pavia,  and  N.  Joly,  of  the  faculty 
of  Toulouse,  have  not  been  more  fortunate  than  myself. 

But  although  the  atmosphere  is  not  surcharged  or  satu- 
rated with  these  indiscoverable  eggs,  it  must  yet  be  admit- 
ted that,  notwithstanding  its  transparence  and  penetrabil- 
ity, there  are  an  immense  number  of  invisible  corpuscules 
floating  in  it.  Is  there  any  one  who  has  not  recognized 
this  in  entering  a  dark  place  traversed  by  a  ray  of  light  ? 
The  beholder  is  quite  surprised  to  see  the  infinite  variety 
of  all  the  objects  whirling  about  in  it,  rising  and  falling,  so 
as  to  form  iridescent  and  sparkling  waves. 

These  light  corpuscules  represent  the  remains,  the  detri- 
tus, of  all  bodies  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  which  have 
been  borne  away  by  the  agitation  of  the  atmosphere. 

In  the  open  sea  and  in  calm  weather,  scarcely  any  motes 
are  seen  in  a  ray  of  light ;  a  few  specks  of  dust  detached 
from  the  ship  alone  float  in  it. 

On  the  summit  of  a  lofty  mountain  we  notice  the  same 
paucity  of  corpuscules.  Near  the  crater  of  Etna  the  breeze 
only  brought  to  us  particles  of  ashes  and  sulphur  thrown 
out  by  the  volcano. 

But  so  soon  as  we  abandon  the  solitudes  of  the  sea  or  the 


686  THE   UNIVERSE. 

mountains,  the  nearer  we  approach  populous  cities,  the  more 
does  the  air  become  loaded  with  invisible  particles.  The 
catalogue  of  these  is  in  reality  only  the  summary  of  all  that 
man  makes  use  of  for  his  wants  or  pleasures.  We  find 
atoms  of  food,  of  our  clothes,  of  our  furniture,  and  of  our 
dwellings ;  everything,  in  short,  is  represented  there. 

The  flour  of  wheat,  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  our 
food,  and  is  used  everywhere,  is  disseminated  everywhere 
by  the  air.  By  means  of  this  fluid  it  penetrates  into  the 
most  secret  recesses  of  our  dwellings  and  monuments.  I 
have  discovered  it  in  the  most  inaccessible  nooks  of  our  old 
Gothic  churches,  mixed  with  dust  blackened  by  the  antiq- 
uity of  six  or  eight  centuries;  I  also  found  some  in  the 
palaces  and  crypts  in  the  Thebais,  where  it  perhaps  dated 
from  the  epoch  of  the  Pharaohs ! 

In  our  cities  it  is  one  of  the  most  abundant  corpuscules  in 
the  air;  the  falling  snow  and  the  wheeling  insect  take  up  an 
enormous  amount  as  they- traverse  it.  I  have  counted  as 
many  as  forty  or  fifty  grains  on  the  wings  of  certain  flies. 
It  also  attaches  itself  to  the  surface  of  the  body  of  man  and 
large  animals. 

We  also  discover  in  the  air  the  skeletons  of  different  in- 
fusoria, and,  what  is  still  more  extraordinary,  we  even  find 

* 

there  animalcules  perfectly  alive.  We  also  frequently  meet 
with  the  debris  of  insects,  filaments  of  wool,  silk,  or  cotton, 
tinged  with  the  most  various  colors ;  likewise  abundant 
refuse  of  the  soil,  and  even  particles  of  smoke  expelled  from 
our  manufactories  and  household  fires.  Everything  is  found 
here,  and  with  a  little  practice  can  be  readily  recognized ; 
and  the  only  things  we  do  not  encounter,  or  what  is  at  any 


GEOLOGY.  687 

rate  prodigiously  rare,  are  the  eggs  and  seeds  with  which 
the  panspermists  burden  it. 

All  atmospheric  corpuscules  penetrate  with  the  air  into 
our  respiratory  organs.  Hence  our  lungs  always  contain  a 
certain  amount  of  fecula.  I  have  even  discovered  micro- 
scopic crustaceans  living  in  those  of  a  dead  man. 

It  is  known  that  the  bones  of  birds,  instead  of  being  filled 
with  marrow,  are  perfectly  hollow,  and  that,  by  means  of  a 
curious  mechanism  they  communicate  with  the  lungs  and 
assist  respiration ;  hence  these  pneumatic  bones  are  well 
suited  for  retaining  the  aerial  corpuscules  which  reach  their 
cavities.  A  peacock  bred  in  a  chateau  presented  in  its 
bones  abundant  filaments  of  wool  and  silk  tinted  with  the 
most  magnificent  colors  ;  these  were  clearly  remains  of  the 
rich  dresses  of  the  noble  ladies  of  the  place,  or  of  work  ex- 
ecuted by  their  delicate  hands.  On  the  contrary,  in  fowls 
from  the  humble  abode  of  a  baker  the  pneumatic  cavities 
were  almost  solely  stuffed  with  meal  and  the  remains  of 
coarse  clothes ;  in  those  of  a  charcoal-burner  they  displayed 
numerous  particles  of  charcoal. 

In  woodpeckers,  which  inhabit  none  but  the  most  solitary 
parts  of  our  forests,  the  respiratory  passages  contain  only 
the  remains  of  leaves  and  bark.  In  contradistinction  to  this, 
the  bones  of  the  crows,  which  pass  part  of  their  lives  on  our 
roofs  and  part  in  the  fields,  are  filled  with  everything  that 
circulates  in  the  different  places  which  they  frequent.  We 
find  in  them  variously  colored  filaments  of  wool  and  cotton, 
flour  and  smoke,  which  they  acquire  on  the  roofs  of  our 
dwellings ;  and  lastly,  fine  vegetable  particles,  which  they 
inhale  in  the  midst  of  the  woods. 


688  THE   UNIVERSE. 

It  is  curious  to  see  the  habits  of  animals  told  thus  by  an 
examination  of  their  respiratory  canals. 

But  everywhere,  whether  we  examine  the  air  or  the  in- 
nermost organs  of  animals,  we  only  find  a  very  insignifi- 
cant quantity  of  those  eggs  or  seeds  with  which  the  pan- 
spermists,  we  repeat,  nevertheless  maintain  that  the  air  is 
loaded. 


THE   SIDEREAL  UNIVERSE. 

44 


...  "  On  a  soncUS  ces  regions  voices , 
Les  bornes  du  possible  out  ete  recul^es. 
Un  mortel  a  pu  voir,  anue  <Tun  ceil  geant, 
Osciller  des  liu-urs  aux  confins  du  ueaut !  "  .  .  . 

J.  J.  Aifpiai. 

Man  has  plumbed  these  veiled  realms ;  the  boundaries  of  the  possible  have  been  extended. 
A  mortal,  armed  with  the  eye  of  a  giant,  has  been  enabled  to  see  gleams  of  light  oscillating  on 
the  confines  of  empty  space ! 


BOOK   I. 

THE  STARS  AND  IMMENSITY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    STARS. 

KEPLER,  whose  genius  surmounted  all  obstacles,  was  the 
first  to  trace  the  great  physical  laws  of  the  spheres.  All 
the  stars  are,  according  to  him,  only  suns  like  ours,  each 
of  which  has  its  planetary  system.  And  our  luminary, 
with  its  whole  host  of  satellites,  is  itself  thrown,  like  a  wan- 
dering star,  into  the  ocean  of  worlds,  where  it  forms  the 
central  point  in  the  stellar  cloud  which  we  call  the  Milky 
Way. 

All  round  the  sun,  disseminated  in  immensity,  the  stars 
majestically  lend  life  to  the  vault  of  heaven.  Their  splen- 
dor, the  dazzling  spectacle  which  they  display  to  our  eyes, 
fill  the  soul  with  a  sense  of  humility  and  nothingness.  It  is 
in  the  valleys  of  the  glowing  Thebais,  never  wetted  by  a 
drop  of  water,  that  we  ought  to  yield  ourselves  up  to  such 
contemplations.  One  enjoys  there  nights  which  are  eter- 
nally serene ;  and  under  their  magnificent  dome  the  stars, 
these  immortal  flowers  of  heaven,  as  St.  Basil  calls  them, 


692  THE   UNIVERSE. 

raise  the  spirit  of  man  from  the  visible  to  the  invisible. 
The  heavens  relate  the  glory  of  God :  Call  enarrant  glo- 
riam  Dei. 

The  number  of  known  stars,  the  orbits  of  which  have 
been  calculated,  is  considerable.  Astronomers  compute  the 
number  that  can  be  seen  by  the  naked  eye  on  the  horizon 
at  the  same  moment  at  3000.  The  sharpest  sight,  favored 
by  an  extremely  clear  night,  can  only  number  nearly 
6000.1 

This  starry  wealth  became  embarrassing,  and  at  a  very 
early  period,  for  more  convenient  study,  the  necessity  was 
felt  for  making  distinct  groups,  to  which  the  name  of  con- 
stellations was  given.  Nearly  all  these  assemblages  are 
named  after  living  beings,  sketched  out  on  the  celestial 
sphere. 

But  this  grouping  into  constellations,  the  origin  of  which 
goes  far  back  into  antiquity,  has  only  been  carried  out  by 
successive  attempts.  According  to  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
it  was  Chiron,  the  preceptor  of  Jason,  who,  1420  years  be- 
fore our  era,  first  divided  the  starry  sky  into  distinct  con- 
stellations, tracing  them  out  on  a  sphere  which  he  pre- 
sented to  the  Argonauts.  Such  is  also  Newton's  opinion.2 

1  Argelander,  director  of  the  observatory  of  Bonn,  says,  in  his  Nouvelle  Urano- 
metrie,  that  on  the  horizon  of  Berlin  3256  stars  are  seen  with  the  naked  eye  in 
the  course  of  a  year.    A  Munster  astronomer,  M.  Heis,  asserts  that  his  sight  is  so 
penetrating  that  he  can  see  4000  more  than  his  brother  worker.     According  to 
Humboldt  4146  are  counted  at  Paris.     But  the  difference  becomes  very  great  so 
soon  as  we  examine  the  sky  with  even  feeble  instruments.     Thus  in  a  corner  of  a 
constellation  of  the  Twins,  where  the  most  practised  eye  can  only  make  out  six 
stars,  a  good  glass  shows  a  mass  of  more  than  3000. 

2  Several  of  the  constellations,  however,  are  already  mentioned  in  the  Bible  at 
an  epoch  anterior  by  some  years  to  that  in  which  the  celebrated  Centaur  is  said 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  693 

However,  the  first  authentic  proof  of  the  division  of  the 
heavens  only  belongs  to  the  times  of  Hesiod,  much  nearer 
to  our  epoch.  In  his  book,  the  "  Works  and  Days,"  written 
about  800  years  before  Christ,  this  poet  speaks  of  the  Pleia- 
des, Arcturus,  Orion,  and  Sirius. 

The  Odyssey  and  Iliad  are  barren  in  respect  to  astronom- 
ical allusions.  Homer,  however,  relates  that  Ulysses  steered 
his  ship  guiding  his  course  by  the  Pleiades  and  Bootes ;  and 
the  prince  of  poets,  when  he  describes  the  shield  of  Achilles, 
mentions  several  constellations,  and  among  them  the  Great 
Bear,  "  which  alone  never  sinks  in  the  waves  of  the  ocean." 

The  invention  of  almost  all  the  constellations  is  generally 
attributed  to  the  Greeks.  As  to  those  which  lie  near  the 
equator,  and  which  are  called  zodiacal,  the  learned  consider 
that  they  emblematically  recall  the  Egyptian  divinities. 
The  Virgin  represents  Isis,  and  the  Goat  Mendes.  The 
Earn  is  consecrated  to  Jupiter  Ammon ;  the  Bull  is  only  the 
emblem  of  the  god  Apis,  and  the  Lion  that  of  Osiris.1 

to  have  lived.  In  the  book  of  Job  allusion  is  made  to  the  constellations  of  Orion, 
the  Pleiades,  and  the  Hyades.  The  grouping  of  stars  thus  goes  back  nearly  3300 
years.  —  Arago,  Astronomic  Populaire,  t.  i.,  p.  346. 

We  also  find  on  the  monuments  of  ancient  Egypt  indications  of  the  grouping  of 
constellations.  But  we  now  know  that  many  of  these  monuments  are  much  more 
recent  than  was  thought  at  first. 

1  Among  the  Greeks  the  Bull  recalled  to  mind  the  carrying  away  of  Europa 
by  Jupiter.  The  sun,  when  he  arrived  at  the  sign  of  the  Crab,  indicated, 
by  his  moving  backwards  to  the  equator,  the  way  in  which  this  crustacean  pro- 


According  to  M.  J.  Coulier,  the  Egyptians,  by  the  sign  of  the  Lion,  intended  to 
indicate  the  great  heats  which  occur  towards  the  summer  solstice,  —  a  time  when 
the  lions  are  very  abundant  and  very  dangerous  in  Ethiopia.  The  Virgin  is  said 
to  have  represented  the  Egyptian  goddess  Isis.  The  Balance  anciently  indicated 
the  place  where  the  sun  is  found  at  the  autumnal  equinox,  the  time  when  the 


694  THE   UNIVERSE. 

This  division  of  the  celestial  sphere,  though  very  ancient, 
has  been  successively  adopted  by  the  learned  of  all  epochs, 
notwithstanding  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to 
reform  it.  Towards  the  eighth  century  some  theological 
.astronomers,  scandalized  at  seeing  all  the  divinities  of  Olym- 
pus scattered  over  the  vault  of  heaven,  attempted  to  depose 
them,  and  to  substitute  for  mythological  designations  names 
borrowed  from  the  sacred  writings.  But  this  attempt,  of 
which  Bede  was  the  promoter,  failed  completely.  However, 
those  curious  in  such  matters  quote  calendars  wherein  St. 
Peter  replaces  the  Ram,  St.  Andrew  the  Bull,  while  David, 
Solomon,  and  the  three  kings  of  the  Magi  have  also  their 
places.  Sir  John  Herschel,  more  exact,  looking  at  the  dif- 
ficulties presented  by  attempts  to  settle  the  boundaries  of 
the  constellations  with  accuracy,  proposed  to  trace  simple 
quadrilaterals  on  the  celestial  sphere,  and  to  class  the  stars 
in  each  of  them.  But  this  system  met  with  no  success. 

Guided  by  calculations  and  instruments  of  admirable  pre- 
cision, the  astronomer  in  our  days  boldly  penetrates  to  the 
spheres  scattered  towards  the  confines  of  immensity.  He 
weighs  them,  and  calculates  their  volume  and  density,  as  if 
they  were  placed  on  the  scale  of  his  balance. 

Modern  science  draws  ample  supplies  from  its  splendid 
storehouses,  whilst  in  its  cradle  all  was  wanting  but  genius ! 
Hipparchus  and  Ptolemy  had  no  instrument  to  scrutinize 
the  heavens  with.  The  astronomers  of  the  Renaissance, 
such  as  Regiomontanus,  Copernicus,  Tycho-Brahe,  and  Kep- 
ler, were  scarcely  more  favored,  and  yet  how  many  imrnor- 

days  and  nights  are  of  equal  length.    The  sign  of  the  Archer  doubtless  recalls  the 
season  for  hunting.  —  J.  Coulier,  Dictionnaire  d' Astronomic.     Paris,  1824. 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  695 

tal  discoveries  do  we  owe  to  them  !  They  seem  with  their 
lynx-eyes  to  have  seen  or  divined  everything.1 

The  first  telescope  made,  Galileo's  feeble  instrument,  only 
magnified  objects  seven  times,  and  yet  with  it  he  discovered 
the  satellites  of  Jupiter. 

At  present  our  astronomers  explore  the  stars  with  instru- 
ments which  multiply  6500  times.  Lord  Rosse  fathomed 
the  depths  of  the  heavens  with  a  telescope  having  a  six-feet 
opening,  and  fifty-five  feet  in  length.  Thus  by  the  potency 
of  this  immense  optic  tube,  in  which  a  man  could  walk  with 
ease,  we  see  several  nebulas,  which  had  defied  all  our  instru- 
ments, resolved  into  dense  swarms  of  stars.2 

1  The  first  telescope  which  was  constructed  of  large  dimensions  was  that  of  Sir 
William  Herschel.  He  discovered  the  sixth  satellite  of  Saturn  with  it.  The  tube 
of  this  instrument  being  extremely  heavy,  movement  could  only  be  communicated 
by  a  very  complicated  mechanism,  —  a  mass  of  ladders  and  masts,  forming  a  gi- 
gantic pyramid.  Its  length  was  nearly  forty  feet;  its  diameter  nearly  five. 

a  Euler  maintained  that  in  order  to  see  the  largest  animals  in  the  moon  it  would 
be  requisite  to  have  a  telescope  several  hundred  feet  in  length.  Hooke  thought  a 
glass  10,000  feet  long  (nearly  two  miles)  would  be  necessary,  and  projected  the 
construction  of  one.  The  telescope  of  Lord  Rosse  has  shown  that  we  can  obtain 
this  advantage  much  more  easily. 

"It  is,"  says  Sir  David  Brewster,  "one  of  our  most  marvellous  combinations 
of  art  and  science."  *'  This  magnificent  instrument  is  fixed  in  the  midst  of  walls 
which  resemble  segments  of  fortifications."  The  telescopic  tube  is  55  feet  in 
length,  and  weighs  14,575  Ibs.  avoirdupois.  With  it  one  can  gauge  the  immeasur- 
able depths  of  the  heavens.  It  is  thought  that  by  means  of  this  instrument  we 
could  easily  perceive  a  monument  the  size  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  if  any  existed 
on  the  moon.  The  surface  of  this  planet  is  there  as  accurately  depicted  as  a  ter- 
restrial landscape. 

The  telescope  of  Lord  Rosse,  says  M.  Babinet,  would  certainly  not  show  us  a 
lunar  elephant,  but  a  troop  of  animals  like  a  herd  of  American  buffaloes  would  be 
quite  visible.  Troops  marching  in  order  of  battle  would  be  clearly  perceptible. 
The  observatory  at  Paris,  Notre  Dame,  and  the  Louvre  would  be  very  easily 


696 


THE   UNIVERSE. 


We  see  that  at  the  present  time  our  means  of  investiga- 
tion have  given  gigantic  proportions  to  the  field  of  science. 
When  the  sidereal  world  was  only  explored  with  the  naked 
eye,  the  catalogues  of  stars  compiled  from  antiquity  up  to 
the  Renaissance,  from  Hipparchus  to  Tycho-Brahe,  only 
made  mention  of  about  a  thousand  stars.  In  our  days  the 
vault  of  heaven,  seen  through  a  telescope  twenty  feet  long, 


253.  The  great  Reflecting  Telescope  constructed  by  Lord  Rosse. 

is  found,  according  to  M.  Struve,  to  contain  more  than 
20,000,000  stars. 

But  Sir  W.  Herschel  pried  yet  more  deeply  into  the  mys- 
teries of  the  heavens.  By  means  of  his  telescope,  forty  feet 
long,  the  Milky  Way,  this  long  white  train  which  the  Arabs 
called  the  Heavenly  River,  has  been  resolved  into  a  stellar 
cloud,  in  which  the  English  astronomer  counted  18,000,000 
telescopic  stars. 

seen.  We  must  therefore  conclude  that  if  we  see  nothing  of  this  kind  on  our  satel- 
lite it  is  because  its  surface,  formerly  all  flame  and  volcano,  and  now  all  ice,  did 
not  or  does  not  contain  anything  of  the  kind. 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  697 

And  yet  can  we  say  that  with  these  overwhelming  num- 
bers —  these  numbers  which  confound  the  imagination  — 
we  have  reached  the  extreme  bounds  of  science,  and  that  it 
has  traced  out  the  farthest  limits  of  the  sidereal  universe  ? 
Probably  not.  Other  revelations,  not  less  marvellous,  may 
yet  astonish  our  descendants ! 

The  aspect  of  this  star-formed  cloud,  dispersed  through 
the  firmament,  only  gives  us  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  grand- 
eur of  the  heavenly  regions.  Number  and  distance  weaken 
the  impression.  It  seems  as  if  the  stars,  so  abundant  and 
apparently  so  heaped  together,  could  only  be  luminous 
points !  It  is  science  that  gives  objects  their  real  impor- 
tance by  calling  calculation  to  our  aid.  In  order  to  give 
the  dimensions  of  one  of  these  bodies  with  precision,  we  will 
quote  the  exact  words  of  M.  A.  Guillemin.  "  Wollaston,"  he 
says,  "  affirms  that  the  apparent  diameter  of  the  most  brill- 
iant star  in  the  sky,  Sirius,  is  not  equal  to  the  fiftieth  part 
of  the  second  of  an  arc.  But  we  may  at  once  say  that  this 
calculation  would  still  leave  a  large  margin  for  the  real  di- 
mensions of  this  star,  seeing  that  at  the  distance  at  which  it 
is  from  us  an  apparent  diameter  so  small  would  yet  repre- 
sent a  real  diameter  of  4,500,000  leagues,  which  is  twelve 
times  that  of  our  sun." 

Does  not  this  simple  quotation  prove  that  the  phenomena 
of  nature  possess  proportions  not  less  extraordinary  than 
unexpected  ?  Thus  when  man  begins  the  study  of  the  sci- 
ences, it  is  with  profound  astonishment  that  he  recognizes 
that  the  marvels  which  they  reveal  to  him  far  surpass  the 
most  audacious  fictions  of  antiquity. 

Let  us  prove  it  by  a  few  instances. 


698  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  ancient  philosophers  thought  they  gave  a  grand  and 
majestic  idea  of  the  sun  by  comparing  its  dimensions  to  the 
superficies  of  the  Peloponnesus.  But  what  a  mean  compar- 
ison !  This  torch  of  the  world,  this  lucerna  mundi,  as  Co- 
pernicus called  it,  is  of  such  proportions  that  if  we  supposed 
the  earth  placed  in  its  centre  the  mass  of  the  sun  would  ex- 
tend beyond  the  orbit  of  the  moon,  and  our  satellite  would 
only  accomplish  its  revolutions  while  still  buried  under  the 
thick  incandescent  layers  of  the  star  which  gives  us  light.1 

In  his  "  Theogony,"  Hesiod,  wishing  to  give  an  idea  of 
the  height  of  the  firmament,  tells  us  that  an  anvil  of  brass, 

1  The  volume  of  the  sun  is  more  than  600  times  as  large  as  that  of  all  the  plan- 
ets put  together.  It  turns  round  its  axis  in  twenty-five  days  and  a  half.  We  may 
form  an  idea  of  the  immense  bulk  of  this  star  relative  to  that  of  the  earth  by 
means  of  a  comparison  mentioned  by  Arago  in  his  Astronomic  Populaire.  *«  A 
professor  of  Angers,"  he  says,  **  hit  upon  the  idea  of  counting  the  number  of 
grains  of  average  size  contained  in  the  measure  of  capacity  called  a  litre  ;  he 
found  there  were  10,000.  Consequently,  a  decalitre  ought  to  contain  100,000,  a 
hectolitre  1,000,000,  and  fourteen  decalitres  1,400,000.  Having  collected  the 
fourteen  decalitres  of  wheat,  he  showed  his  audience  a  single  grain,  and  then 
said  to  them,  '  This  is  the  size  of  the  earth,  while  the  heap  represents  the  sun.' 
This  comparison  occasioned  infinitely  more  surprise  among  the  students  than  the 
statement  about  the  relative  size  of  1  to  1,400,000  in  abstract  numbers  had 
done." 

If  we  wish  to  compare  the  weight  of  the  sun  with  that  of  the  earth,  astronomy 
weighs  them  with  as  much  precision  as  though  each  were  placed  in  one  of  the 
scales  of  a  balance.  The  weight  of  the  sun  is  2,096,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 
000,000  tons.  That  of  the  earth  is  only  5,875,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

The  physical  constitution  of  the  sun  has  only  been  made  out  by  the  astronomers 
of  our  epoch.  The  body  of  this  star  is  almost  entirely  dark,  but  it  is  surrounded 
by  three  envelopes  :  one  formed  of  vapors  which  touch  it ;  another,  which  is 
luminous,  placed  at  a  great  distance,  and  which  is  called  the  photosphere ;  and, 
lastly,  a  third,  which  covers  the  latter,  and  in  which  float  the  clouds.  The  spots 
on  the  sun  are  occasioned  by  perforations  in  the  photosphere,  which  allow  us  to 
see  the  earthy  nucleus  of  the  star.  —  See  Guillemin,  Le  del.  Paris,  1865. 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  699 

falling  from  the  summit  of  heaven,  would  sink  nine  days 
and  nine  nights  through  space  before  reaching  the  earth. 

How  vastly  the  imagination  of  the  poet  of  Boeotia  is  be- 
low the  truth,  a  truth  which  quite  confuses  one  !  Indeed, 
on  one  hand,  physics  prove  that  a  solid  body,  falling  by 
gravitation  during  this  space  of  time,  would  only  traverse 
143,000  leagues ;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  astronomy 
of  the  nineteenth  century  teaches  us  that  a  ray  of  light  is- 
suing from  Alcyone,  the  most  brilliant  of  the  Pleiades,  takes 
five  years  to  traverse  the  intervening  space  before  reaching 
our  eyes.  And  yet  light  is  so  rapid  that  in  the  tenth  part 
of  a  second  one  of  its  vibrations  will  pass  round  the  globe. 
But  the  depth  of  the  heavens  does  not  stop  short  at  the 
group  of  the  Pleiades :  on  the  contrary,  they  belong  to  its 
nearer  regions.1 

Space  being  infinite,  and  our  minds  finite,  they  can  only 
take  in  some  small  portions  of  it ;  and  yet,  though  these  are 
very  limited  compared  to  the  field  of  immensity,  they  are 
enough  to  confound  the  human  comprehension.  It  would 
be  puerile  to  try  and  define  them  by  numbers :  all  the  re- 
sources of  our  intellect  would  not  suffice  for  such  an  at- 
tempt. The  space  which  light  traverses  in  a  year  far  out- 
strips the  measure  of  our  perceptive  faculties ;  we  are  not 
surprised  when  we  remember  that  it  clears  the  distance 
separating  us  from  the  sun  —  that  is  to  say,  91,328,600 
miles — in  eight  minutes,  eighteen  seconds;  and  yet  it  is 

1  The  Alpha  of  the  Centaur,  one  of  the  nearest  stars  to  us,  which  is  only  about 
8,000,000,000  geographical  leagues  from  the  earth,  sends  us  its  light  in  three 
years,  and  the  pole-star,  which  is  more  than  70,000,000,000  leagues,  in  a  quarter 
of  a  century. 


700  THE   UNIVERSE. 

this  light  which,  in  its  dazzling  progress,  serves  to  measure 
the  vast  distances  between  the  globes,  and  to  give  us  a 
grand  idea  of  some  fragments  of  the  infinite  ! 

As  light  passes  through  77,000  leagues  in  a  second,  the 
speed  of  anything  we  can  place  beside  it  is  low  indeed. 
Compared  with  it  sound  is  propagated  with  ridiculous  slow- 
ness. 

.  Supposing  the  immense  abyss  interposed  between  the 
earth  and  the  sun  were  capable  of  transmitting  sonorous 
undulations,  it  has  been  calculated  that  sound  produced  on 
the  surface  of  the  glowing  torch  of  the  world  would  take 
fourteen  years  and  two  months  to  reach  our  ears. 

If  we  attempt,  by  an  interesting  calculation,  to  compute 
how  long  it  would  require,  by  our  most  rapid  locomotion, 
to  accomplish  a  journey  from  the  star  which  lends  us  light, 
we  are  altogether  astonished  at  the  result.  According  to 
the  calculations  of  M.  Guillemin,  an  express  railway  train, 
starting  from  the  earth  on  the  1st  of  January,  1865,  and 
travelling  at  the  rate  of  thirty-one  miles  an  hour,  would 
only  reach  the  sun  in  the  year  2212 ;  that  is  to  say,  in  347 
years,  —  a  journey  performed  by  light  in  a  few  minutes ! 

We  have  said  what  a  great  lapse  of  time  a  luminous  ray 
starting  from  the  Pleiades  would  require  to  reach  the  earth. 
But  the  conquests  effected  by  the  genius  of  man  over  the 
infinite  are  not  limited  to  these  constellations  ;  sidereal  as- 
tronomy, aided  by  the  accurate  instruments  of  our  epoch, 
has  shown,  as  we  have  stated,  that  the  Milky  Way  is  only  a 
congeries  of  telescopic  stars.  Now  Sir  John  Herschel  thinks 
that,  according  to  his  photometric  calculations,  these  stars 
are  at  such  a  prodigious  distance  from  the  earth  that  a  ray 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  701 

of  light  starting  from  one  of  them  would  take  2000  years  to 
reach  us. 

Yet  human  investigation  penetrates  much  farther  than 
this.  When  the  observer  carries  his  investigations  more 
deeply  into  immensity,  when  he  reaches  those  nebulse  which 
lie  on  the  confines  of  space,  the  distances  are  so  great  that 
they  confound  the  imagination,  and  figures  no  longer  suffice 
to  represent  them.  According  to  calculations,  says  Hum- 
boldt,  which  are  not  devoid  of  probability,  light,  notwith- 
standing its  tremendous  speed,  requires  more  than  two  mill- 
ions of  years  to  traverse  the  enormous  distance  which  sepa- 
rates us  from  these  stars.  Hence,  while  the  telescope  still 
displays  to  our  eyes  the  luminous  gleam  of  one  of  these 
nebulae,  it  may  be  that  more  than  two  million  years  ago  this 
mysterious  body  was  extinguished  in  space.  Thus  the  his- 
tory of  the  heavens  traversing  the  night  of  time  passes 
through  ages,  and  then  appears  to  us  like  contemporaneous 
events  !  This  is,  as  has  been  said,  the  most  authentic  proof 
of  the  immense  antiquity  of  matter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   NEBULA.1 

THE  investigation  of  the  universe  is  not  limited  to  the 
stars.     By  means  of  large  telescopes  we  discover  at  the  far- 

1  "  Nebulae  "  is  a  name  applied  to  certain  celestial  objects  from  their  cloud-like 
appearance,  which  gives  them  a  resemblance  to  faint  comets  or  specks  of  luminous 
fog.  Many  nebulae,  though  cloud-like  to  the  naked  eye,  and  even  to  many  tele- 


702  THE   UNIVERSE. 

thest  distances  in  the  heavens  white  patches  of  different 
shapes,  which  were  long  regarded  as  simple  cosmical,  phos- 
phorescent vapors,  or  as  germs  of  the  universe  ready  to  be 
condensed  into  new  worlds.  It  is  to  these  white  gleams 
that  the  name  of  nebulce  was  given,  in  order  to  designate 
their  diffused  appearance  and  the  uncertainty  of  their  na- 
ture. But  by  means  of  newly  invented  powerful  instru- 
ments it  has  been  made  out  that  these  luminous  clouds,  in 
which  it  was  thought  man  had  discovered  globes  in  the 
process  of  formation,  are  only  groups  of  small  telescopic 
stars,  often  aggregated  in  considerable  numbers,  and  assum- 
ing the  most  varied  and  unexpected  figures. 

Some  nebulae  are  nearly  globular ;  others,  like  those  in  the 
constellations  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Greyhounds,  are  like  a 
spiral  whirlwind ;  and  there  are  some  which  resemble  a  ring. 

scopes,  are  resolved  into  clusters  of  stars  when  seen  through  a  telescope  of  suffi- 
cient power;  but  there  is  likewise  a  class  of  nebulae  which  cannot  be  resolved  into 
star-clusters,  being  shown  by  the  spectroscope  to  consist  of  masses  of  glowing  or 
incandescent  gas.  To  these  latter  bodies  the  term  nebulae  would  be  more  strictly 
applicable,  but  at  present  both  classes  are  called  by  the  same  name,  though  so  dif- 
ferent in  constitution.  The  number  of  nebulae  at  present  known  amounts  to  some- 
where about  5700.  Sir  W.  Herschel  discovered  2500  nebulae;  his  son,  Sir  John, 
revising  his  father's  work,  discovered  500  more,  and,  proceeding  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  added  1 700  southern  nebulae  to  the  list.  Mr.  Huggins  first  success- 
fully applied  the  spectroscope  to  nebulae.  In  August,  1864,  he  first  turned  his 
stellar  spectroscope  on  a  planetary  nebula  in  the  constellation  Draco.  To  his  as- 
tonishment he  found  it  to  consist  of  an  incandescent  mixture  of  the  gases  hydro- 
gen and  nitrogen.  He  has  since  examined  the  spectra  of  a  great  number  of  these 
objects.  Of  the  twenty  which  he  had  examined  in  1870,  about  one  third  are 
evidently  gaseous.  It  is  found  that  the  close  association  of  points  of  light  in  a 
nebula  must  not  be  accepted  as  an  indication  of  resolvability  into  stars,  for  these 
luminous  points  in  many  cases  only  indicate  the  existence  of  places  of  greater 
gaseous  density  than  common.  —  See  art.  Nebula  in  the  Popular  Encyclopedia 
(Blackie  &  Son). 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  703 

The  nebula  of  the  Bull  shows  like  a  luminous  body  length- 
ened out,  from  which  project  claw-like  appendages  formed 
by  long  trains  of  stars.  Struck  with  its  appearance,  Lord 
Rosse,  when  he  saw  it  for  the  first  time  through  his  im- 


254.  Spiral  Nebula  of  the  Constellation  of  the  Greyhounds  ( Canes  Venatici). 

mense  telescope,  gave  it  the  name  of  the  Crab  nebula,  an 
animal  of  which  its  singular  form  puts  one  in  mind. 

The  nebulae  mark  the  limits  of  sidereal  investigation.  In 
proportion  as  with  our  new  means  we  extend  our  researches 
further  into  the  starry  sphere,  we  find  new  luminous  bodies 


704  THE   UNIVERSE. 

of  this  class.     But  in  the  extreme  depth  of  the  heavens 
there  are  still  a  certain  number  which  cannot  be  resolved. 

Already  4500  nebulae  are  known.  They  are  scattered 
through  both  hemispheres,  and  the  least  of  them  consists 
of  a  perfect  swarm  of  suns,  for  each  of  their  imperceptible 
stars  represents  a  sun. 


255.  The  Dumb-Bell  Nebula:  Constellation  of  the  Fox  ( Vulpecula). 

The  stars  which  form  the  nebulae  are  so  massed  together 
that  they  cannot  be  counted  with  exactness.  Astronomers 
have  only  been  able  to  calculate  approximately  the  number 
in  several  of  those  which  present  a  globular  form.  Arago 
asserts  that  there  are  as  many  as  20,000  in  some  of  those 
celestial  lights  which  are  in  appearance  not  more  than  one 
tenth  of  the  magnitude  of  the  moon's  disk. 

These  bodies  are  scattered  irregularly  enough  over  the 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  705 

celestial  vault.  Large  spaces  seem  entirely  without  them, 
whilst  in  other  regions  they  are  dispersed  like  numerous 
archipelagoes;  and  the  observer  can,  for  instance,  particu- 
larly near  the  Virgin,  see  more  than  300  traverse  the  field 
of  the  telescope  within  an  hour. 

Although  the  dispersion  of  the  nebulae  apparently  does 
not  follow  any  plan,  yet  some  exact  law  seems  to  have  pre- 


256.  The  Crab  Nebula:  Constellation  of  the  Bull  (Taurus). 

sided  at  their  formation,  for  there  are  generally  very  few 
stars  in  their  vicinity,  as  if  they  had  drawn  towards  their 
centre  all  the  cosmical  particles  of  the  regions  in  which  they 
are  placed.  Thus  Herschel,  in  his  nocturnal  explorations, 
when  he  saw  few  stars  pass  before  his  instrument,  calcu- 
lated upon  a  nebula  appearing  in  their  place,  and  was  so 
certain  of  this  that  he  used  to  tell  his  secretaries  to  be 


706  THE    UNIVERSE. 

ready  to  take  a  note  of  them.  "  Be  ready  to  write,"  he 
would  say ;  "  the  nebulae  are  coming." 

The  Clouds  of  Magellan,  those  luminous  patches  which 
cover  so  large  a  space  in  the  southern  region,  and  look  like 
rags  torn  from  the  Milky  Way,  present  a  complex  composi- 
tion, being  analogous  to  a  certain  extent  with  the  nebulae. 
Sir  John  Herschel  says  they  are  formed  of  isolated  stars,  of 
swarms  of  stars,  and,  lastly,  of  nebulae,  more  compact  than 
those  which  we  find  near  the  Virgin  and  in  the  Tresses  of 
Berenice. 

The  first  mariners  who  ventured  into  the  southern  seas 
were  also  struck  by  certain  phenomena  of  a  totally  opposite 
character  ;  these  were  black  patches  irregularly  outlined  on 
the  vault  of  the  heavens,  to  which,  in  their  imaginative  lan- 
guage, they  gave  the  name  of  coal-sacks.  According  to  as- 
tronomers, these  patches,  the  most  celebrated  of  which  are 
near  the  Southern  Cross,  are  due  to  the  sky  being  at  these 
parts  to  a  great  extent  without  stars.  They  seem  to  be 
really  holes,  according  to  the  expression  of  Humboldt,  by 
means  of  which  our  vision  pierces  into  the  remotest  spaces 
of  the  universe. 


BOOK  II. 

THE  SOLAR  WORLD. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE   SUN". 

THIS  flaming  star,  to  use  the  beautiful  metaphor  of  Theon 
of  Smyrna,  is  the  heart  of  the  universe,  vivifying  every- 
thing with  its  pulsations.  Of  all  those  lights  that  gravitate 
in  the  immensity  of  the  heavens,  the  dazzling  splendor  of 
the  sun  first  captivates  the  attention.  Yet,  great  as  may 
be  its  apparent  size,  and  vivid  as  may  be  its  light,  it  is  still 
only  one  in  those  myriads  of  stars  which  form  the  Milky 
Way.  But  for  us  it  is  the  centre  of  a  system,  or  of  a  fam- 
ily of  globes,  of  which  it  was  the  cradle,  and  which,  after 
being  separated  from  it,  revolve  eternally  round  their  com- 
mon parent.  Like  a  sovereign  seated  on  his  shining  throne, 
it  sits  in  the  centre  of  its  satellites;  its  invisible  power 
upholds  them  in  space,  directs  their  regulated  course,  and 
disseminates  everywhere  movement  and  life. 

For  if  its  light  were  extinguished,  eternal  night  would 
envelop  the  globe,  and  with  that  wrould  come  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  created  things,  which  its  rays  alone  protect  from 


708  THE    UNIVERSE. 

the  horrible  mantle  of  ice  perpetually  threatening  to  invade 
them. 

Compared  to  our  globe  and  to  the  other  orbs  which  it 
enchains  in  their  orbit  round  itself,  the  sun  is  of  enormous 
dimensions.  It  is  about  a  million  and  a  half  times  the  bulk 
of  the  earth,  and  has  been  calculated  to  contain  seven  hun- 
dred times  the  mass  of  all  the  planets  together  which  circu- 
late in  its  system. 

Astronomers  have  not  rested  content  with  knowing  the 
volume  of  the  sun  ;  they  have  attempted  to  estimate  its 
weight,  and  have  succeeded.  By  comparing  its  weight  with 
that  of  the  earth,  they  have  made  out  that  it  would  require 
a  large  number  of  the  latter  to  counterbalance  it.  If  we 
supposed  the  existence  of  a  prodigious  balance,  which  al- 
lowed us  to  place  the  sun  in  one  scale,  we  should  have  to 
put  350,000  terrestrial  globes  into  the  other  in  order  to 
weigh  it  properly. 

The  orbit  of  the  earth  is  rigidly  limited  to  91,000,000 
miles  from  the  sun.  Some  planets  roll  at  a  much  greater 
distance  from  this  luminary :  others  much  nearer.  He 
scorches  the  one,  and  condemns  the  other  to  the  empire  of 
eternal  frost.  Mercury,  his  nearest  neighbor,  almost  in  a 
state  of  combustion,  is  only  37,000,000  miles  off.  Neptune, 
which  is  doubtless  all  covered  with  ice,  rolls  in  the  furthest 
orbit  of  the  system  at  2,854,000,000  miles  from  the  blazing 
star;  and  thus  it  only  accomplishes  its  revolution  in  164 
years,  which  constitute  its  year  ! 

However  dazzling  may  be  the  splendor  of  the  sun,  it  was 
discovered  250  years  ago  to  display  here  and  there  some 
black  patches ;  very  small,  it  is  true,  in  comparison  with  the 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE. 


709 


extent  of  its  surface,  but  in  reality  of  vast  extent  relatively 
to  the  dimensions  of  our  globe.  Although  the  eye  cannot 
generally  perceive  these  spots,  some  of  them  are,  neverthe- 
less, as  much  as  75,000  miles  in  diameter;  and  if  we  suppose 
that  they  represent  gaps  in  the  solar  envelope,  the  earth 
might  be  engulfed  in  them  with  the  greatest  facility. 


257.  Spots  on  the  Sun. 

Although  the  existence  of  these  spots  is  as  easily  proved 
as  anything  can  be,  yet,  when  they  were  first  pointed  out, 
and  even  after  the  great  Galileo  had  attested  their  reality, 
some  theologians,  founding  their  convictions  upon  false  phil- 
osophic ideas,  resolutely  denied  the  fact.  They  maintained 
that  the  pure  and  radiant  star  was  perfectly  immaculate. 


710  THE   UNIVERSE. 

and  that  its  pretended  blemishes  only  existed  on  the  glasses 
of  the  telescopes  of  astronomers. 

But  though  the  existence  of  these  is  now  an  incontestable 
fact,  yet  their  real  nature  is  as  yet  very  imperfectly  ex- 
plained. Some  astronomers  maintain  that  they  are  only 
holes  in  the  luminous  envelope  of  the  sun,  which  allow  us 
to  see  its  dark  strata.  Others  think  they  are  clouds  of 
vapor,  which  wander  over  the  surface  of  this  immense  globe 
of  fire.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  to  the  observation  of 
these  spots  that  we  owe  the  discovery  of  the  rotatory  move- 
ment of  the  sun,  —  a  movement  which  takes  place  in  twenty- 
five  days.1 

The  solar  heat  is  so  powerful  that  we  can  only  form  a 
very  imperfect  idea  of  it.  The  greatest  combustion  in  our 
blast  furnaces,  pushed  to  a  white  heat,  cannot  for  a  moment 
be  compared  with  it.  An  attempt,  however,  has  been  made 
to  estimate  the  temperature  of  this  formidable  furnace. 

1  It  seems  probable,  from  the  solar  observations  recently  made  by  De  La  Rue, 
Stewart,  and  Loewig,  on  the  nature  of  sun  spots,  that  the  spots  are  colder  than 
either  the  photosphere  or  the  sun;  that  this  greater  cold  is  not  due  to  the 
general  body  of  the  sun  at  the  bottom  of  a  spot  being  of  a  lower  temperature  than 
the  photosphere,  and  is  not  produced  by  any  chemical  or  molecular  process,  but 
by  matter  coming  from  a  colder  region;  and  that  when  a  spot  is  formed  there  is  a 
down-rush  and  melting  of  photospheric  matter.  In  a  paper  by  M.  Faye,  in  the 
Complcs-Rendus,  the  author  deduces  from  Mr.  Carrington's  researches  the  con- 
clusions that  sun  spots  are  depressions  beneath  the  surface  of  the  sun's  photo- 
sphere, from  20,000  to  40,000  miles  in  depth;  that  many  of  the  apparent  irregu- 
larities of  their  motion,  attributed  to  cyclones,  are  probably  explicable  by  the  con- 
tinued variation  in  the  motion  proper  to  each  successive  parallel  of  the  photo- 
sphere; and  that  the  great  regularity  of  their  motions  seems  incompatible  with 
any  hypothesis  of  mere  superficial  or  local  movements  in  the  photosphere,  and 
rather  points  to  some  more  general  action  arising  from  the  internal  mass  of  the 
sun.  —  TR. 


THE   SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  711 

"  Let  the  sun/'  says  Camille  Flammarion,  "  be  considered 
as  a  globe  as  large  as  1,400,000  terrestrial  globes,  and  com- 
pletely covered  with  a  layer  of  coal  seven  leagues  in  thick- 
ness. Then  the  heat  furnished  by  the  combustion  of  all 
this  coal  would  be  equal  to  what  the  sun  annually  projects 
into  space." 

And  yet,  great  and  incomprehensible  as  may  be  the  heat 
of  this  incandescent  focus,  which  burns  us  at  a  distance  of 
91,328,600  miles,  astronomers  are  so  daring  that  they  have 
ventured  to  calculate  the  quantity  of  water  necessary,  if 
not  to  extinguish  it  entirely,  to  put  out,  at  any  rate,  the 
surface  conflagration. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    EARTH. 

WE  have  previously  spoken  at  length  of  the  earth  in  ref- 
erence to  geology ;  here  we  only  have  to  speak  of  its  posi- 
tion as  a  planetary  body  forming  part  of  the  solar  system. 

The  earth  represents  a  sphere  a  little  flattened  towards 
the  poles.  It  is  subject  to  two  movements :  one  which  takes 
place  round  the  sun  in  an  orbit  of  which  it  traverses  the 
circuit  in  a  year ;  the  other  is  performed  in  about  twenty- 
four  hours  round  the  axis  which  passes  through  its  poles. 
It  is  the  latter  movement  which  occasioned  the  belief  that 
the  sun  and  the  heavens  turned  round  the  earth  in  a  direc- 
tion from  east  to  west,  whilst  on  the  contrary  it  is  the  ter- 
restrial globe  that  turns  from  west  to  east.  Copernicus  was 
the  first  to  demonstrate  this  great  astronomical  fact,  and 
Galileo,  with  all  the  influence  of  his  genius,  confirmed  it. 


712  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  terrestrial  surface  is  estimated  at  196,000,000  square 
miles,  and  the  learned  have  calculated  that  to  cover  it  com- 
pletely would  require  a  thousand  kingdoms  the  size  of 
France. 

Our  planet  is  entirely  enveloped  by  a  thick  layer  of  air, 
which  forms  round  it  the  softest  cushion  imaginable,  and  of 
which  the  depth,  according  to  the  calculations  of  Laplace,  is 
about  twenty-six  miles.  Notwithstanding  its  apparent  light- 
ness, this  atmosphere  weighs  heavily  upon  all  bodies  on  the 
earth,  and  exerts  greater  pressure  in  proportion  as  they  of- 
fer a  larger  surface.  Physiologists  consider  that  each  of  us 
has  a  weight  of  about  32,000  Ibs.  to  support;  but  this  great 
weight  is  not  usually  felt,  because  it  is  counterbalanced  by 
a  counter-action  equal  in  all  directions,  so  that  the  one  de- 
stroys the  other.  • 

The  earth  is  not  rich  in  respect  to  satellites,  possessing  as 
it  does  only  one,  which,  however,  is  of  dimensions  ample 
enough  as  compared  to  it ;  this  is  the  moon,  the  faithful 
companion  of  its  course.  Other  planets,  it  is  true,  like  Ju- 
piter and  Saturn,  are  more  richly  endowed,  and  have  from 
four  to  eight  satellites ;  but,  again,  there  are  others  which 
do  not  possess  any,  as  is  the  case  with  Venus  and  Mercury. 

From  one  pole  to  the  other  our  globe  is  full  of  animation, 
and  on  it  life  manifests  itself  with  all  its  strength.  In  the 
torrid  zone,  as  well  as  in  the  frozen  regions,  the  air,  the 
earth,  and  the  depths  of  the  sea  have  their  animal  inhabi- 
tants and  their  plants,  which  have  succeeded  each  other 
from  age  to  age.  When  one  generation  becomes  extinct 
another  takes  its  place,  displaying  forms  before  unknown. 
A  series  of  new  creations  will  doubtless  yet  follow,  up  to  the 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  713 

time  when  the  whole  will  be  annihilated  in  one  common 
wreck.  The  earth,  in  fact,  after  its  period  of  incandescence 
and  of  life,  will,  in  cooling,  pass  successively  through  the  dif- 
ferent stages  that  the  moon  has  already  passed  through,  and 
like  it  will  one  day  be  but  a  dead  and  frozen  star.  Every- 
thing on  its  surface  indicates  that  it  is  slowly  undergoing 
the  same  transformations  as  its  satellite  has  undergone.  It 
has  been  calculated  that  ^th  of  the  primitive  ocean  has 
been  already  absorbed.  The  rest  is  doubtless  destined  to 


258.  Comparative  Dimensions  of  the  Earth  and  Moon. 

rejoin  this  other  portion,  and  this  disappearance  will  take 
place  with  the  greater  facility  in  proportion  as  the  terres- 
trial crust  gets  thicker  by  the  effect  of  cooling ;  for  it  has 
been  calculated  that  the  earth  could  easily  absorb  fifty 
oceans  such  as  its  own. 

The  surface  of  the  earth  will  then  crack  and  split  like 
that  of  the  moon  at  the  present  day,  and  its  atmosphere 
will  rush  into  all  the  hollows,  while  long  before  that  life  will 
be  everywhere  extinct ;  so  that  the  earth  will  be  nothing 
but  a  corpse.  This  strange  catastrophe,  however,  which  the 
study  of  the  moon  indicates  as  inevitable,  will  take  place 


714  THE   UNIVERSE. 

only  at  a  period  far  distant  in  the  future,  for^  according  to 
the  experiments  of  Bischof,  9,000,000  of  years  would  be  re- 
quired to  lower  the  temperature  of  the  earth  only  fifteen 
degrees. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   MOON. 

THIS  sole  and  faithful  satellite  of  the  earth,  formed  by  a 
fragment  detached  from  it,  now  cold  and  wan,  rolled  round 
us,  when  it  began,  a  red  and  blazing  sphere,  vomiting  tor- 
rents of  fire  from  its  whole  surface.  Whilst  gravitation  was 
regulating  its  form  and  path,  the  moon,  in  the  course  of 
thousands  of  years,  gradually  exhausted  its  fires,  to  show  us 
at  last  its  pale  and  silvery  face,  the  sad  luminary  of  our 
nights,  the  splendid  nocturnal  mirror  which  reflects  to  us, 
pale  and  cold,  the  divergent  rays  of  the  sun. 

Compared  to  the  immeasurable  distances  of  the  nebulse 
and  stars,  the  space  which  separates  us  from  our  satellite  is 
quite  insignificant ;  she  is  our  next-door  neighbor,  and  the 
eye  can  so  clearly  discern  her  form  and  peculiarities  that 
she  seems  almost  to  touch  us.  But  this  insignificant  dis- 
tance, abstractly  considered,  is  yet  vast  enough.  The  dis- 
tance from  the  earth  to  the  moon  is  about  237,000  miles. 
If  it  were  possible  to  get  there  by  means  of  steam,  it  would 
require  1  year  and  about  322  days  for  a  locomotive,  start- 
ing from  our  globe  and  travelling  at  a  high  rate  of  speed,  to 
reach  the  moon  and  land  its  passengers.  A  heavy  body  pro- 
jected from  the  lunar  orbit  would,  it  is  true,  reach  us  much 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  715 

quicker.  In  his  charming  work  on  celestial  marvels,  M.  Ca- 
mille  Flammarion  says  it  would  arrive  at  the  surface  of  the 
earth  in  3  days,  1  hour,  45  minutes,  and  13  seconds. 

The  moon  is  in  every  part  roughened  with  eminences  of 
different  shapes,  but  they  only  very  rarely  group  them- 
selves into  mountain  chains  comparable  to  those  of  our 
globe.  The  Alps,  Caucasus,  and  the  Apennines  represent 
the  principal  ones.  Certain  isolated  summits  have  received 
the  names  of  celebrated  men,  but  those  of  past  times  have 
been  chosen  in  order  not  to  excite  any  jealousy ;  we  travel 
from  the  mountain  of  Aristotle  to  that  of  Hipparchus,  from 
that  of  Ptolemy  to  that  of  Copernicus.  The  astronomers 
have  very  properly  not  forgotten  their  claims. 

The  highest  lunar  mountains  attain  an  altitude  which  sur- 
passes most  terrestrial  elevations,  —  a  fact  which  may  well 
astonish  us.  Generally  they  do  not  rise  beyond  22,750  feet. 
But  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  planet,  we  may  say  that 
the  mountains  in  the  moon  are  much  loftier  than  those  of 
the  earth.  The  summits  of  Mount  Doerfel  are  24,700  feet 
above  the  valleys  which  environ  it,  whilst  the  crest  of  Mont 
Blanc  only  rises  15,632  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

Most  of  the  mountains  of  our  pale  companion  are  of  vol- 
canic origin,  and  its  surface  has  been  so  shattered  by  sub- 
terranean fires  that  in  many  places  the  craters  are  heaped 
up  close  beside  each  other.  Probably  no  star  was  ever  so 
horribly  torn  by  the  fury  of  volcanoes.  These  even  attain 
proportions  far  beyond  what  is  seen  on  our  globe.  Some  of 
those  lunar  craters  are  four  or  five  leagues  in  diameter,  and 
the  gaping  mouth  of  the  volcano  of  Aristillus,  still  more 
prodigious,  is  ten  leagues  from  one  edge  to  the  other  !  Our 


716  THE    UNIVERSE. 

glasses  enable  us  to  see  these  extinct  craters  in  such  pro- 
portions that  none  of  their  details  escape  us ;  whilst,  were 
we  on  the  moon,  our  telescopes,  according  to  Humboldt, 
would  scarcely  enable  us  to  make  out  terrestrial  volcanoes. 
Seen  from  the  earth,  many  lunar  volcanoes  appear  very 
much  depressed,  and  the  edges  of  their  craters  resemble  so 
many  flattened  rings,  projecting  very  little  above  the  plains. 
Some  regions  are  so  riddled  with  them  that  their  mouths 


259.  Appearance  of  the  Moon  when  Full. 

touch.  Others  surmount  lofty  summits,  and  their  crenel- 
lated ramparts  surround  enormous  excavations,  which  pierce 
deep  into  the  mountains  below  the  level  of  the  plains. 

At  the  present  day  the  volcanoes  with  which  the  moon 
is  riddled  are  quite  extinct,  and  our  satellite  is  really  and 
truly  a  dead  star.  This  opinion,  which  is  held  by  Beer 
and  Arago,  has  been  developed  in  an  ingenious  manner  by 


261.  Part  of  the  Moon's  Crescent  during  the  First  Quarter. 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  721 

CHAPTER  IV. 

COMETS. 

AMONG  the  myriads  of  stars  scattered  through  the  vault 
of  heaven,  there  are  none  which  have  so  much  taxed  the 
imagination  of  the  learned  as  comets.  They  have  often 
given  rise  to  the  most  opposite  and  most  ridiculous  hypoth- 
eses. Descartes  thought  they  were  only  old  stars  which 
had  become  crusted  over  and  sick,  and  which,  being  too 
feeble  to  maintain  their  places,  were  borne  away  by  the 
vortices  of  neighboring  stars. 

The  regular  movements  of  comets  seem  to  have  been 
suspected  by  Seneca,  but  it  was  Newton  who  taught  the 
method  of  calculating  them.  These  vagabond  stars,  how- 
ever, frequently  move  in  such  a  way  as  to  deceive  all  the 
sagacity  of  astronomers.  The  reader  may  recollect,  in  ref- 
erence to  this  point,  that  Jacopo  Bernouilli  had  announced 
the  return  of  the  comet  of  1680  for  the  17th  of  May,  1719  ; 
it  ought,  at  this  time,  to  have  made  a  majestic  entry  into 
the  sign  of  the  Balance.  Voltaire  says  that  in  order  to  see 
this  beautiful  spectacle  not  a  single  astronomer  went  to  bed 
that  night ;  but  the  comet  did  not  appear.  These  wander- 
ing meteors  are  sometimes  guilty  nowadays  of  the  same 
want  of  politeness.1 

1  Seneca  suspected  not  only  the  regular  movements  of  comets,  but  even  the 
possibility  of  tracing  their  path  by  means  of  calculation.  u  I  look  upon  them," 
he  says,  "  not  as  wandering  fires,  but  as  works  that  are  eternal  in  their  nature. 
Every  comet  has  its  defined  limits." —  See  Just.  Astron.  de  Lemonnier.  To  New- 
ton belongs  the  honor  of  having  first  demonstrated  their  course  by  calculation.  — 


722  THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  learned  themselves  have  contributed  largely  to  all 
the  errors  circulated  by  the  vulgar  about  these  strange 
stars,  and  even  astronomers,  though  least  of  all,  have  sup- 
plied their  contingent.  At  one  time  the  appearance  of  com- 
ets inspired  such  dread  that  people  shut  themselves  up  in 


262.  Donati's  Comet  on  5th  October,  1858,  near  Arcturus,  as  seen  with  the  naKed  eye. 

their  dwellings  in  order  not  to  see  their  horrible  aspect ; 
nowadays,  on  the  contrary,  we  rush  out-of-doors,  the  better 
to  gaze  upon  their  luminous  tresses.  Naturally  enough  ig- 
norant crowds  were  alarmed  when  the  most  enlightened 
men,  such  as  J.  Bernouilli,  maintained  that  the  tail  at  least, 
if  not  the  body,  of  comets  might  be  looked  upon  as  a  sign 
of  celestial  wrath. 

The  imagination  of  Maupertuis  gave  way  to  all  sorts  of 
fantasies  in   respect   to   these  nebulous  stars.      He  never 

Newton's  Principia.  Euler  has  equally  contributed  to  throw  light  upon  the  move- 
ments of  these  stars.  —  Theoria  Planetarum  et  Come.tarum,  1744. 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  723 

forsook  the  idea  that  they  were  probably  peopled  by  a  cer- 
tain race  of  men ;  and  in  their  phosphorescent  tails  the  as- 
tronomer saw  only  a  dazzling  train  of  jewels.  In  speaking 
of  such  a  contingency  as  a  comet  falling  upon  our  globe,  he 
expresses  himself  thus  :  "  Earth  would  enjoy  the  rare  treas- 
ures which  a  body  coming  from  so  far  would  bring  to  it. 
We  should,  perhaps,  be  much  surprised  to  find  that  the  re- 
mains of  these  bodies  which  we  despise  are  formed  of  gold 
or  diamonds  ;  but  which  would  be  the  more  surprised  of  the 
two,  ourselves  or  the  inhabitants  whom  the  comet  would 
land  upon  earth  ?  What  a  strange  appearance  we  should 
wear  in  each  other's  eyes  !  " 

Although  the  vulgar  cannot  fathom  all  the  mysteries  of 
the  heavens,  their  imagination  receives  some  compensa- 
tion in  the  strange  fancies  which  comets  engender,  as  they 
have  always  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  creating  ecstasy  or 
horror. 

The  history  of  these  wandering  stars,  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end,  is  really  only  a  determined  abnegation  of  the 
evidence  of  our  senses  and  the  testimony  of  the  masses.  In 
respect  to  them  fiction  has  been  pushed  to  the  wildest  ex- 
travagance. In  every  age  comets  have  been  considered  as 
sinister  omens.  In  ages  of  credulity  their  gleaming  tails 
appeared  to  the  vulgar  like  formless  heaps  of  flaming 
swords  or  bleeding  heads  and  daggers,  precursors  of  the 
most  murderous  wars.  At  other  times  the  fascinated  imag- 
ination of  our  forefathers  saw  in  them  hairy  stars,  which 
threatened  the  world  with  a  general  conflagration. 

Such  erroneous  ideas  were  so  deeply  rooted  in  men's 
minds  that  some  learned  men  of  the  Renaissance,  even  the 


724  THE   UNIVERSE. 

most  advanced,  represent  comets  in  their  works  under  the 
most  grotesque  shapes ;  a  fault  of  which  even  Ambrose 
Pare  is  guilty.1 

Kepler  himself,  though  an  eminent  astronomer,  was  so 
subjugated  by  the  superstition  of  his  epoch  that  he  saw  in 
comets  a  kind  of  monsters,  similar  to  those  produced  by  the 
sea,  and  wandering  vaguely  in  the  heavenly  regions. 

Although  in  its  progress  science  has  eradicated  these  ab- 
surdities, still,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  given  rise  to  some 
fears.  It  was  dreaded  every  instant  that  the  shock  of  one 
of  these  wandering  stars  would  shatter  the  earth  into  frag- 
ments. The  theory  of  Buffon  and  the  assertions  of  Kepler 
in  no  way  reassured  men.  The  former,  it  may  be  remem- 
bered, had  put  forth  the  view  that  our  globe  was  only  a 
fragment  struck  off  from  the  sun  by  the  shock  of  a  comet ; 
and  the  danger  seemed  only  the  more  imminent  when  Kep- 
ler, in  his  picturesque  language,  said  that  "  there  are  more 

1  In  Ambrose  Pare  we  may  see  to  what  an  extent  even  the  shrewdest  men  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  misled  respecting  comets.  The  illustrious  surgeon,  who 
was  certainly  not  superstitious,  gives  in  his  valuable  work  most  fantastic  figures  of 
some  of  these  stars. 

In  the  chapter  entitled  "  Des  Monstres  Celestes,"  Ambrose  Pare  speaks  of 
bearded  and  hairy  comets,  of  comets  like  a  shield,  a  lance,  a  dragon,  or  a  battle 
in  the  clouds.  And  he  there  describes  and  represents,  in  all  its  details,  a  bleed- 
ing comet  which  appeared  in  1528.  "  This  comet,"  he  says,  "  was  so  horrible 
and  frightful,  and  engendered  such  terror  among  the  vulgar,  that  some  died  of 
fear,  and  others  fell  sick.  It  appeared  to  be  of  excessive  length,  and  was  of  the 
color  of  blood;  at  its  summit  was  seen  the  figure  of  a  bent  arm  holding  a  large 
sword  in  its  hand,  as  if  about  to  strike.  At  the  end  of  the  point  were  three  stars. 
At  both  sides  of  the  rays  of  this  comet  were  seen  a  great  number  of  axes,  knives, 
and  swords  of  the  color  of  blood,  among  which  were  a  great  number  of  hideous 
human  faces,  with  rugged  beards  and  locks,"  —  Ambrose  Pare,  chap,  xxxii. 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  725 

comets  in  the  sky  than  fish  in  the  ocean."  The  worst  was 
to  be  feared.1 

But  modern  science  has  swept  away  a  part  of  the  danger. 
At  the  same  time  that  it  has  shown  the  immense  size  of 
these  stars,  it  has  also  demonstrated  their  inoffensive  nature. 
The  tail  of  a  comet,  which  the  Chinese  fancifully  call  its 
broom,  because  it  seems  to  sweep  the  azure  of  the  sky,  and 
which  to  our  eye  appears  only  like  a  luminous  fan,  some- 
times exceeds  2,000,000  leagues  in  length.  This  luminous 
cone  may  even  attain  much  more  prodigious  dimensions, 
and  has  been  known  to*  equal  the  distance  which  separates 
the  earth  from  the  sun. 

But  notwithstanding  these  frightful  proportions,  comets 
ought  to  produce  scarcely  any  fear  for  the  earth,  as  they  are, 
of  all  stars,  those  of  which  the  material  particles  show  the 
greatest  looseness.  Their  mass  sometimes  does  not  reach 
TTsWth  of  that  of  the  earth,  which  induced  Theon  of  Alexan- 
dria to  give  them  the  picturesque  name  of  wandering  clouds. 
Some  observers  have  looked  upon  them  as  even  much 
lighter  than  this,  —  so  light,  indeed,  as  to  surpass  every- 
thing one  can  imagine.  Comets,  says  M.  Flammarion,  have 
been  seen  several  million  leagues  long,  the  weight  of  which 
was  yet  so  trifling  that  one  could  have  carried  them  on 
one's  shoulders  without  fatigue.2 

1  Arago  adopts  the  hypothesis  of  an  equal  distribution  of  comets  in  all  parts  of 
the  solar  system,  and,  founding  his  calculations  on  the  number  of  comets  observed 
between  the  sun  and  Mercury,  computes  the  number  of  these  stars  which  circu- 
late within  the  known  limits  of  the  solar  system,  that  is  to  say,  the  orbit  of  Nep- 
tune, at  17,500,000.  —  Guillemin,  Le  del,  Paris,  1865,  p.  348. 

2  Mr.  Huggins,  who  has  examined  the  subject  very  carefully,  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  nucleus  of  comet  1,  1866,  was  self-luminous,  that  it  consisted 


726  THE    UNIVERSE. 

We  have,  therefore,  no  reason  to  dread  their  contact,  and 
may  sleep  securely.  In  1770  astronomers  saw  a  comet  bar 
the  path  of  Jupiter's  system,  and  envelop  the  planet  on 
every  side,  without  the  slightest  perturbation  to  the  course 
either  of  the  great  star  or  that  of  its  satellites.  On  the 
contrary,  it  was  the  nebulous  star  that  suffered  from  the 
contact.  Besides,  it  seems  that  during  the  passage  of  cer- 
tain comets  in  our  vicinity,  their  tails  may  have  penetrated 
into  our  atmosphere.1 

However,  according  to  Maupertuis,  though  there  are 
some  comets  so  small  that  their  'collision  with  the  earth 
would  only  destroy  a  few  kingdoms,  without  shattering  its 
mass,  there  are  others  the  contact  of  which  might  be  fatal 
to  every  living  thing  on  the  globe. 

In  his  "  Lettres  Cosmologiques,"  Lambert  leads  us  to 
dread  the  most  serious  accidents.  According  to  him,  the 
shock  of  a  comet  might  pulverize  our  globe,  and  prove  the 
destruction  of  everything  living  on  it  by  means  of  a  deluge 
of  water  or  a  general  conflagration  ;  or  comets  might  even 
carry  off  our  moon,  by  sweeping  it  away  in  their  orbit,  or 
hurl  us  beyond  the  regions  of  Saturn,  where  hideous  winter 
reigns  for  ages  together. 

of  matter  in  the  shape  of  ignited  gas,  and  that  this  matter  is  similar  in  constitution 
to  the  gaseous  material  of  some  of  the  nebulae.  The  coma  was  found  to  shine  by 
reflected  light,  and  as,  from  its  extreme  diffusion,  it  cannot  be  supposed  to  contain 
solid  or  liquid  matter  at  the  high  temperature  necessary  for  incandescence,  it 
seems  almost  certain  that  it  reflects  the  light  of  the  sun.  The  nucleus  of  meteors 
is  probably  a  fragment  of  mineral  matter,  of  which  sodium  is  one  of  the  chemical 
ingredients.  Their  spectra  are  often  highly  colored  and  continuous,  like  those 
from  solid  matter  at  a  white  heat.  —  TK. 

1  According  to  Humboldt,  the  tails  of  the  comets  in  1819  and  1823  must  have 
reached  our  atmosphere.  The  same  thing  is  supposed  to  have  happened  with  the 
last  great  comet  observed  in  our  latitudes. 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  727 

But  even  supposing  that  comets  are  not  so  marvellously 
light  as  to  allow  of  a  man  carrying  them  off  upon  his  shoul- 
ders without  being  as  strong  as  Atlas,  and  if,  too,  their 
shock  is  far  from  being  so  formidable  as  Buff  on  supposed, 
yet  certainly  these  bodies  are  too  imperfectly  known  for  us 
to  lay  down  general  rules  about  them.  M.  Guillemin,  in  his 
remarkable  work  on  the  heavens,  speaks  as  follows  :  "  If 
there  be  comets  the  nebulosity  of  which  is  quite  gaseous, 
and  so  transparent  that  small  stars  can  be  seen  through 
their  substance,  there  are  others  the  nucleus  of  which  is, 
without  doubt,  very  dense,  as  their  light  was  bright  enough 
to  be  perceptible  in  full  day,  even  in  the  vicinity  of  the 


sun." 


The  mass  of  Donati's  comet  has  been  estimated  at  about 
the  seven-hundredth  of  that  of  the  earth  ;  "  that  is  to  say/* 
says  M.  Faye,  "  the  same  weight  as  a  sea  of  16,000  square 
leagues  surface,  and  330  feet  in  depth.  It  must  therefore 
be  admitted  that  such  a  mass,  impelled  with  great  speed, 
might  produce  sensible  effects  by  coming  in  contact  with 
the  earth." 

Is  it  not  possible,  in  cases  where  the  tail  of  a  comet  is 
formed  of  atoms  widely  scattered,  that  the  brilliancy  of 
their  nucleus  may  just  be  the  result  of  incandescence  ?  And 
then,  even  supposing  there  was  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
shock,  would  not  the  approach  of  such  a  furnace  be  enough 
to  make  us  dread  being  burned  up  ? 

The  phenomenon  of  shooting-stars  strikes  the  untutored 
mind  less  than  the  appearance  of  comets,  and  yet,  notwith- 
standing its  frequency,  the  explanation  of  it  is  not  free  from 
obscurity  on  some  points. 


728  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  distance  of  the  stars  does  not  allow  us  to  ascribe  to 
them  the  long  trains  of  light  which  we  see  so  frequently 
traverse  the  heavens ;  hence  this  phenomenon  is  at  present 
attributed  to  bodies  entering  our  atmosphere. 

Twice  in  the  year  the  sky  is  constantly  traversed  by  a 
prodigious  quantity  of  these  luminous  trains  ;  in  a  single 
hour  we  may  at  such  times  occasionally  count  200  or  300. 


2G3.  Swarm  of  Shooting-Stars  at  Sea. 

One  of  these  periods  occurs  from  the  10th  to  the  12th  of 
August,  and  it  is  to  this  phenomenon,  which  has  long  aston- 
ished the  vulgar,  that  the  name  of  St.  Laurence  s  rain  has 
been  given,  on  account  of  his  festival  falling  on  the  10th  of 
August.  These  brilliant  lights  are  looked  upon  by  Irish 
Catholics  as  the  burning  tears  of  the  venerated  saint. 

During  the  night  of   the   12th  and  of  the  13th  of  No- 


THE  SIDEREAL    UNIVERSE.  731 

vember,  the  same  abundance  of  shooting-stars  has  been  ob- 
served. Ilumboldt  and  Bonpland,  who  were  witnesses  of  it 
in  Cumana,  relate  that  the  number  of  luminous  trains  trav- 
ersing the  sky  was  so  great  that  the  spectator  might  have 
thought  it  was  some  magnificent  display  of  fireworks,  at  a 
prodigious  height.  At  sea  the  phenomenon  is  no  less  ex- 
traordinary ;  it  looks  like  so  many  rockets  which  fall  to- 
wards the  horizon. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  explain  this  abundance  of 
shooting-stars  at  the  two  periods  we  mention,  by  supposing 
that  the  sun  is  encircled  by  a  ring  composed  of  myriads  of 
little  bodies,  which  ring  the  earth  passes  through  annually 
at  these  times. 

The  number  of  these  meteoric  bodies  which  penetrate 
into  our  atmosphere  in  this  way,  and  appear  under  a  lumi- 
nous form,  is  computed  at  millions.  There  are  some  which, 
according  to  Humboldt,  seem  almost  to  graze  the  summits 
of  Chimborazo. 

Meteoric  stones,  which  have  all  the  appearance  of  shoot- 
ing-stars, but  which  are  much  bulkier,  and  leave  behind 
them  a  long  stream  of  fire,  which  for  a  moment  lights  up 
the  earth  like  the  moon,  must  be  briefly  noticed. 

They  sometimes  burst  with  a  sound  like  that  of  a  cannon, 
and  let  fall  on  the  earth  a  number  —  sometimes  consider- 
able, and  at  others  not  —  of  meteoric  stones,  which  drop 
smoking  and  burning. 

While  speaking  of  the  mysterious  phenomena  which  at- 
tract our  wondering  eyes  to  the  celestial  regions,  we  must 
not,  in  such  a  work  as  this,  omit  to  mention  the  great  lights 
which  often  illuminate  the  heaven  of  the  polar  regions  dur- 


732  THE    UNIVERSE. 

ing  the  long  nights  of  winter,  a  phenomenon  known  as  the 
Aurora  Borealis  or  Australis. 

Whilst  this  lasts  the  heavens  sometimes  present  the  most 
splendid  spectacle.  On  the  black  and  starry  background 
of  the  sky  we  see  traced  out  a  vast  luminous  cupola,  or 
kind  of  panelled  vault,  formed  of  colonnades  of  stalactites 
heaped  together  and  pendant,  and  which,  suspended  in  the 
clouds,  reflect  the  brightest  hues  of  the  rainbow.  Some- 
times they  resemble  fireworks,  which  dart  their  sheets  of 
flame  in  every  direction,  and  seem  to  set  on  fire  the  hori- 
zon, forming  one  of  the  most  imposing  spectacles  it  is  pos- 
sible to  enjoy  amid  the  ice  of  the  north. 


POPULAR  ERRORS. 


MONSTERS  AND   SUPERSTITIONS. 

I  PURPOSE  to  terminate  this  sketch  of  the  glories  of  na- 
ture by  giving  as  a  contrast  a  short  account  of  the  ridicu- 
lous fictions  which  our  forefathers  were  too  often  pleased 
to  substitute  for  them.  We  shall  then  have  completed  the 
picture  of  the  march  of  science. 

The  people  of  antiquity  had  their  superstitions  and  their 
fabulous  legends,  but  those  were  never  so  widely  diffused 
as  they  became  in  the  Middle  Ages,  a  period  of  simple  igno- 
rance and  ardent  faith.  "At  that  time,"  as  M.  Figuier  says 
in  his  excellent  work  on  this  epoch,  "  all  classes  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  even  a  great  part  of  the  nobility,  the  magistracy, 
and  the  clergy,  believed  in  magic." 

The  Renaissance  itself  did  not  throw  off  this  weakness  of 
the  human  mind  ;  on  the  contrary,  learned  men  vied  with 
each  other  in  collecting  all  the  fables  of  their  forefathers 
and  recording  them  in  their  works.  They  found  monsters 
in  every  kingdom  of  nature,  and  equally  in  the  depths  of 
the  sea,  as  in  the  heavens.  Ambrose  Pare*  even  devoted  a 
chapter  to  "  Celestial  Monsters,"  in  which  he  describes  the 
fabulous  comets  we  have  spoken  of. 

All  that  a  fantastic  imagination  could  beget,  all  that  dis- 


734  THE   UNIVERSE. 

eased  minds  could  discover  wild  in  tradition  or  terrible  in 
legend,  was  for  many  ages  looked  upon  as  expressing  occult 
truths.  Fools  gave  themselves  up  to  punishment  and  death, 
accusing  themselves  of  unheard-of  acts,  while  the  judges 
never  noticed  their  delirium  ! 

In  the  Middle  Ages  magic  was  confounded  with  science  ; 
it  was  not  attacked ;  but  in  the  sterner  times  of  the  Renais- 
sance the  fagots  were  lighted.  The  victims  that  suffered 
for  imaginary  crimes  cannot  be  numbered. 

But  if  so  many  and  such  serious  errors  spread  through 
the  vulgar,  we  must  with  sorrow  admit  that  they  were  in 
great  part  the  work  of  the  learned  men  of  these  later  times. 
The  most  eminent  men  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renais- 
sance, who  could  discuss  all  branches  of  human  knowledge 
of  that  day  with  perfect  clearness,  seemed  to  become  struck 
with  blindness  so  soon  as  ever  the  question  turned  upon 
monsters ;  instead  of  dissipating  error,  they  lent  all  the 
weight  of  their  authority  to  sanction  it.  And  this  deplora- 
ble mass  of  superstition  issued  neither  from  the  smoky 
laboratory  of  the  alchemist  nor  from  the  mysterious  cave  of 
the  cabala ;  the  fountain  head  is  to  be  found  in  the  works 
of  scholars  the  most  esteemed  and  religious  of  their  epoch. 

In  fact,  all  these  fabulous  traditions,  which  credulity  still 
collects  with  such  avidity,  were  put  forth  as  so  many  reali- 
ties by  the  naturalists  of  past  ages.  This  is  what  we  see  in 
the  writings  of  Albertus  Magnus,  Olaus  Magnus,  Aldrovan- 
dus,  Gesner,  and  Scheuchzer.  Not  content  with  simple  re- 
citals, they  ornament  their  works  with  figures  representing 
all  these  fantastic  creatures  as  if  they  had  been  drawn  from 
nature.  Who  could  doubt  after  that? 


MONSTERS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS.  735 

When  we  analyze  the  works  of  all  these  writers  we  are 
astonished  to  find,  side  by  side,  so  much  science  and  credu- 
lity, so  much  exactness  and  error !  Thus  Scheuchzer,  a 
naturalist  deeply  imbued  with  religion,  in  his  "  Itinerary  of 
Switzerland,"  describes  with  minute  precision  all  the  locali- 
ties in  the  Alps,  all  the  animals  to  be  found  there,  and  every 
flower  that  blooms  in  their  valleys.  Every  object  is  drawn 
with  extraordinary  skill ;  there  is  so  much  delicacy  in  his 
engravings  that  the  humblest  moss  may  be  recognized.  But 
along  with  these  faithful  representations  of  nature  we  find 
frightful  aerial  monsters ;  winged  dragons,  which  swarm  in 
the  obscure  windings  of  roads,  and  stop  the  alarmed  trav- 
eller. The  perusal  of  the  work  of  this  author  might  well 
have  sufficed  to  prevent  our  credulous  ancestors  from  ven- 
turing into  the  gorges  of  the  Alps,  or  searching  into  their 
dark  caverns ! 

Kircher  the  Jesuit,  who  was  one  of  the  most  progressive 
men  of  his  epoch,  fell  into  the  most  deplorable  errors.  He 
represents  frightful  dragons  which  guard  the  riches  of  the 
earth,  and  which  must  be  vanquished  before  obtaining  pos- 
session of  them.  And,  as  we  sometimes  find  in  caverns  the 
bones  of  bears,  hyenas,  and  other  mammals,  this  was  enough 
in  times  of  such  credulity  to  make  men  assign  (as  was  par- 
ticularly the  case  in  Franconia)  the  fossilized  remains  of 
these  ancient  animals  to  fabulous  reptiles. 

It  is  particularly  at  the  height  of  the  Renaissance  that  we 
see  this  love  of  monstrosity  reach  its  climax ;  every  author 
then  thought  himself  obliged  to  devote  a  few  chapters  of 
his  work  to  it.  Aldrovandus,  a  naturalist  of  Bologna,  a 
profoundly  learned  man,  even  wrote  a  big  work  on  mon- 


736  THE   UNIVERSE. 

sters,  in  which  are  delineated  some  of  the  most  fantastic 
kind.  Ambrose  Pare*,  surgeon  to  Henry  III.  of  France, 
though  he  had  long  travelled  with  the  army,  was  no  less 


265.  Dragon  of  the  Caverns  of  Mount  Pilatus.    Facsimile  taken  from  the  "Mundus 
Subterraneus  "  of  the  Reverend  Father  Kircher. 

credulous  than  the  others.  In  his  celebrated  work  he  rep- 
resents sirens,  monks,  and  men-at-arms  of  the  sea  all  cov- 
ered with  scales,  and  as  fresh  as  if  they  had  been  just 
withdrawn  from  the  gulfs  of  Neptune.  One  asks  with  as- 


MONSTERS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS. 


737 


tonishment  how  the  old  Huguenot  could  believe  such  rub- 
bish. I  will  not  speak  of  the  treatise  on  monsters  by 
Licetus,  as  that  is  an  important  work,  in  which  the  anat- 
omist has  only  exaggerated  some  details  in  order  to  give 
interest  to  his  subject. 

But  if  anything  can  surprise  us  more  it  is  the  fact  that 
the  history  of  monsters  is  found  with  all  its  exaggerations 
at  two  periods  widely  distant  from  each  other.  We  find  it 
in  the  height  of  its  extravagances  in  the  Bestiaires  of  the 


2G6.  Sea-Serpent.    Facsimile  taken  from  Olaus  Magnus :  De  Gentibtis  Septentrionalibus,  1555. 

Middle  Ages  and  in  the  books  of  the  Renaissance,  and  then 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  it  returns  in  order 
to  astonish  us  by  the  audacity  of  its  flights. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  the  sombre  countries  of  north- 
ern Europe  that  harbored  this  belief,  and  it  is  in  the  works 
of  Olaus  Magnus,  the  Albertus  Magnus  of  the  North,  that 
we  find  the  most  incredible  display  of  it.  From  this  work 
our  moderns  have  taken  their  horrible  sea-serpent.  The 
author  does  not  rest  satisfied  with  giving  a  description  of 


738  THE    UNIVERSE. 

this  creature  ;  he  delineates  it,  and  in  his  engravings  we 
see  the  reptile  issuing  from  the  waves,  and  launching  itself 
upon  the  ships  in  order  to  devour  the  crews.1 

Elsewhere  the  Bishop  of  Upsala  represents  Cetacea  which 
crush  ships  in  their  formidable  jaws  ! 

And  yet,  though  it  seerns  incredible,  our  epoch,  in  respect 
to  the  history  of  marine  monsters,  leaves  the  old  legends  of 
the  Middle  Ages  and  of  the  Renaissance  far  behind.  In 
fact  it  is  impossible  to  dream  of  anything  more  fabulous 
than  what  Denis  de  Montfort  in  comparatively  recent  times 
gave  out  as  a  feast  for  the  credulous.  His  mind  must  really 
have  been  diseased. 

The  lucubrations  of  this  naturalist  have  found  a  place  in 
the  great  edition  of  Buffon's  works.  He  there  states,  with- 
out the  least  hesitation,  that  in  the  northern  seas  there  are 
cuttle-fish  of  such  a  size  that  a  whale  is  a  pigmy  in  compar- 
ison with  them.  According  to  him,  those  molluscs  are  even 
of  such  prodigious  dimensions  that  when  they  rest  motion- 
less and  half  out  of  the  water  their  bodies,  which  ages  have 
covered  with  tufts  of  marine  plants,  have  sometimes  been 
taken  for  islands  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  waves.  It 
is  even  related  in  some  old  Scandinavian  chronicles  that 

1  **  The  old  Scandinavian  writers  attribute  to  the  sea-serpent  a  length  of  600 
feet,  with  a  Lead  closely  resembling  that  of  a  horse,  black  eyes,  and  a  kind  of 
white  mane.  According  to  them  it  is  only  met  with  in  the  ocean,  where  it  sud- 
denly rears  itself  up  like  a  mast  of  a  ship-of-the-line,  and  gives  vent  to  hissing 
noises,  which  appal  the  hearer,  like  the  tempest  roar.  The  Norwegian  poets  com- 
pare its  progress  to  the  flight  of  a  swift  arrow.  When  the  fishermen  descry  it 
they  row  in  the  direction  of  the  sun,  the  monster  being  unable  to  see  them  when 
its  head  is  turned  towards  that  planet.  They  say  that  it  revolves  sometimes  in  a 
circle  around  the  doomed  vessel,  whose  crew  thus  find  themselves  assailed  on  every 
side."  —  The  Mysteries  of  the  Ocean,  by  Mangin.  —  TR. 


MONSTERS  AND   SUPERSTITIONS. 


741 


of  the  sea.  Our  credulous  forefathers  were  persuaded  that 
there  was  one  of  these  growing  in  Scotland  or  the  Orkneys, 
the  fruits  of  which,  as  large  as  eggs  and  having  the  same 
shape,  opened  at  maturity  and  allowed  each  a  little  duck  to 
escape. 

The  vulgar  would  not  have  dared  to  doubt  such  a  fact, 
for  it  was  quoted  by  the  most  renowned  scholars.  Sebas- 
tian Munster  attests  the  truth  of  it  in  his  great  work  on 
"  Cosmography." 


269.  The  Bird-Tree.     Facsimile  of  the  Sketch  in  Sebastian  Munster's  Cosmography. 

"  We  find,"  he  says,  "  trees  in  Scotland  which  produce  a 
fruit  enveloped  in  leaves,  and  when  it  drops  into  the  water 
at  a  suitable  time  it  takes  life  and  is  turned  into  a  live  bird, 
which  they  call  a  tree-bird."  In  order  to  produce  a  still 
fuller  proof,  the  writer  himself  gives  a  drawing  of  it !  We 
see  the  young  ducks  opening  the  fruits  in  order  to  escape, 
whilst  the  newly-hatched  ones  swim  in  the  water  near  at 
hand ! 


742  THE   UNIVERSE. 

But  the  case  becomes  still  more  serious  when  we  see  the 
most  learned  ornithologist  of  the  Renaissance,  Aldrovandus, 
propagate  such  ridiculous  fables  in  his  great  work.  He 
there  maintains  that  sea-ducks  are  the  product  of  certain 
trees,  and  he  even  represents  these  with  the  fruits  which 
they  bear.  But,  by  an  unpardonable  error  for  a  naturalist, 
these  pretended  fruits  from  which  the  birds  are  issuing  are 
only  barnacles  (Lepas  anatifera),  crustaceans  which  live  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  with  which  he  nevertheless  over- 
loads the  miraculous  boughs  ! 

After  this  one  may  well  ask,  Which  is  the  most  censura- 
ble —  the  savant  who  transcribes  such  absurdities,  or  the 
public  who  believe  in  them  ? 

Some  plants  have  also  become  celebrated  in  the  annals 
of  charlatanism.  There  were  plants  that  warded  off  evil, 
plants  that  caused  injury,  and  magical  plants.  Antiquity 
possessed  a  long  list  of  these,  and  we  have  not  fallen  be- 
hind it. 

On  one  side  we  find  a  venerated  plant,  the  Artemisia  vul- 
garis,  or  St.  John's- wort,  which,  gathered  at  the  moment 
pointed  out  by  the  legend  and  hung  over  the  outer  door, 
preserved  the  house  from  lightning.  On  the  other  was  a 
long  list  of  cabalistic  plants,  among  which  the  thorn-apple, 
Datura  Stramonium,  ought  to  be  mentioned  in  the  first 
rank.  This  was  the  frightful  poison  which  sorcerers  made 
use  of  to  intoxicate  their  senses,  and  procure  for  themselves 
the  spectacle  of  the  Sabbath; 

But  no  magical  herb  ever  enjoyed  more  celebrity  than 
the  mandrake,  an  indispensable  ingredient  in  all  the  phil- 
tres employed  by  the  old  sorcerers.  Antiquity  had  already 


MONSTERS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS.  743 

conducted  us  to  this  dark  road,  by  maintaining  that  the 
roots  of  this  plant  were  of  a  human  form,  —  a  fact  pointed 
out  by  the  name  anihropomorphos  which  Theophrastus 
gave  it,  whilst  Columella  called  it  semihomo. 

To  speak  the  truth,  they  in  no  way  resemble  a  man,  but 
the  credulity  of  the  learned  and  the  astuteness  of  charlatan- 
ism have  supplied  what  was  requisite  to  give  the  appear- 
ance of  truth  to  the  opinions  of  the  ancients.  It  was  after 
they  had  rudely  shaped  them  into  human  likeness  that  the 
magicians  employed  them  in  their  incantations,  and  it  was 


270.  Mandragora  Roots  Carved ;  used  for  Enchantment. 

also  under  this  form  that  the  vulgar  thought  they  were 
found  at  the  foot  of  gibbets,  where,  after  having  fed  on  the 
remains  of  those  who  had  suffered  punishment,  they  had 
taken  on  their  shape.  The  tenants  of  a  place  so  sinister 
and  so  dreaded  could  not  be  removed  without  great  dan- 
ger. The  learned  themselves  did  not  attempt  to  destroy 
so  many  absurdities,  for  in  their  works  they  sometimes 
represent  mandrakes  which  resembled  men  and  women,  for 
there  were  some  of  both  sexes.  They  possessed  the  same 
power  as  the  enchanted  philtres  of  Circe,  to  which  Pliny 


744  THE    UNIVERSE. 

and  Dioscorides  had  given  this  name.  One  thing  is  cer- 
tain, the  mandrake  is  one  of  the  most  fatal  poisons  we 
possess. 

A  charming  little  plant,  all  covered  with  hairs,  which 
abounds  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Ida,  the  dictamnus  of  Crete 
( Origanum  Dictamnus),  was  formerly  considered  the  most 
marvellous  vulnerary  that  nature  ever  presented  to  man. 
The  gods  themselves  had  revealed  its  omnipotence  to  him, 
and  animals  instinctively  made  use  of  it.  It  was  with  this 
dictamnus  that  Venus  dressed  the  wounds  of  ^Eneas.  Aris- 
totle tells  us  that  the  goats  scattered  over  the  celebrated 
mountain,  so  soon  as  the  hunter  has  pierced  them  with  an 
arrow,  seek  out  the  plant  and  eat  it  in  order  to  make  the 
arrow  drop  out  and  so  to  heal  the  wound.  Half  a  century 
ago  who  would  have  dared  to  deny  such  a  wonderful  prop- 
erty, when  at  that  time  a  noble  work  on  Greece  contained 
a  long  chapter  on  the  virtues  of  the  divine  vulnerary,  and 
when,  in  addition  to  this,  the  reader  might  see  an  engrav- 
ing representing  a  goat  pierced  with  arrows  and  browsing 
upon  the  salutary  herb  ? 

In  this  way,  unfortunately,  did  the  authority  of  the 
learned  retard  and  fetter  the  progress  of  truth. 


INDEX. 


A. 


Absorption,  its  nature,  372 ;  by  the  radicles,  372 ; 
a  vital  act,  372  ;  selection  in,  372,  and  note;  by 
the  leaves,  Mariotte's  experiment,  375 ;  engrav- 
ing of,  375. 

Acacia,  growth  of  roots  in  the  direction  of  water, 
368. 

Adanson,  on  emigration  of  swallows,  313 ;  on  age 
of  trees,  405,  514. 

Adansonia  digitata,  engraving  of,  513. 

Adventitious  roots,  348  ;  engraving  of,  348. 

Aerial  or  pulmonary,  and  aquatic  or  branchial, 
leaves  of  aquatic  ranunculus,  engraving  of,  355 ; 
aerial  roots  of  banyan-tree  form  stems,  370 ;  of 
Clusia  rosea  choke  the  plant,  371,  and  note. 

A'rica,  Central,  exuberance  of  game  in,  295. 

Air,  the,  and  its  corpuscules,  677 ;  vital  principle 
of,  677  ;  oxygen  in,  677  ;  fables  respecting  its  in- 
habitants, 678 ;  modern  opinions  respecting,  678 ; 
disseminates  seeds  and  germs,  678. 

Alcyone,  great  distance  of,  from  the  earth,  698. 

Aldrovanda,  mode  of  fertilization,  473. 

Algae,  great  plain  of,  58 ;  impeded  the  vessels  of 
Columbus,  58  ;  its  extent,  59  ;  explanation  of,  59. 

Alysia  Olivieri,  destroys  eggs  of  Chlorops  lineaia, 
99,  note. 

Amaryllis,  stamen  of,  engraving  of,  361. 

Amazon  ant,  its  warlike  habits,  167 ;  predatory 
raids,  167  ;  opposed  by  the  workmen,  167 ;  car- 
ries off  nymphs,  168  ;  gives  itself  up  to  laziness, 
168 ;  is  reduced  under  the  yoke  of  its  own  slave, 
168 ;  who  deports  it  at  pleasure  to  a  new  abode, 
168. 

Amber,  584 ;  history  of,  584,  note. 

Ammonites,  Antediluvian,  great  size,  39 ;  fossil,  en- 
graving of,  40. 

Anabas  (Perca  scandens),  organization  of,  has  res- 
ervoir of  water  near  its  branchiae,  334 ;  engrav- 
ing of  water  reservoir  of,  334  ;  climbs  banks  and 
rocks,  334  ;  engraving  of,  334. 

Anagallis  arvensis,  mutability  of  its  color,  453. 

Anemone  patens,  mutability  of  its  color,  452. 

Anguillulae,  47  ;  experiments  on,  48,  note  ;  engrav- 
ing of,  44. 

Animalcules,  Baron  Gleichen's  experiments,  10; 
Buffon's  and  Lamarck's  opinion  of  them,  11 ;  Du- 
jardin's  theory,  11 ;  strata  formed  of,  in  North 
America,  20 ;  in  Luneburg,  20 ;  under  Berlin,  20  ; 
form  great  deposits  on  surface  of  globe,  20 ;  in 


the  air,  23  ;  at  times  intercept  the  light,  23 ;  in 
dust  blown  from  Africa,  23;  in  the  tartar  on 
teeth,  24  ;  revivification  of,  51. 

Animals,  believed  to  be  capable  of  resuscitation, 
47-52  ;  migrations  of,  295  ;  causes  of,  295  ;  civili- 
zation, cause  of,  296 ;  fecundity  fatal  to  weak 
tribes  of,  296 ;  wild  geese,  wonderful  arrange- 
ment of,  in  traversing  the  air,  297  ;  catching  wild 
geese,  engraving  of,  298  ;  respiration  of,  injurious 
to  composition  of  atmospheric  air,  387  ;  means  of 
reparation,  388. 

Anobium,  death-watch,  feigns  death  to  escape  be- 
ing caught,  141. 

Anoplotheria,  564,  566 ;  remains  found  hi  gypsum 
quarries  near  Paris,  566. 

Antennae,  various  forms  of,  engraving  of,  111. 

Anther,  engraving  of,  361;  description  of,  363; 
mode  of  ejecting  pollen,  363. 

Antherozoa,  3f  4,  note. 

Anthia  duodecimpunctata,  engraving  of,  223. 

Antiparos,  Grotto  of,  illumination  of,  by  the  Mar- 
quis of  Nointel,  653. 

Ant-Lion  (Myrmeleon  formicarius),  mode  of  catch- 
ing its  prey,  156 ;  engraving  of,  and  pit,  157 ; 
ejects  remains  of  prey  and  cleanses  its  pit,  159. 

Ants,  talk  by  touch,  107;  their  numerous  eyes, 
107  ;  fighting  propensities  of,  164  ;  slave-making 
instinct,  164 ;  the  red  ant,  or  Amazon,  a  daring 
slave-maker,  167  ;  predatory  raids  of,  167  ;  return 
after  a  battle,  engraving  of,  165  ;  Huber's  obser- 
vations, 169 ;  observations  of  Holt,  Ward,  and 
others,  169,  note;  all  kinds  do  not  easily  adapt 
themselves  to  slavery,  171 ;  the  small  yellow  ants 
set  the  Amazon  at  defiance,  171 ;  carry  off  aphi- 
des, 171 ;  which  they  milk  of  a  sweet  liquor,  171 ; 
milking  aphides,  engraving  of,  170 ;  nest  more  or 
less  rich  in  proportion  to  the  aphides  it  possesses, 
172 ;  some  ants  find  a  supply  of  saccharine  mat- 
ter in  their  own  bodies,  172  ;  description  of  bat- 
tle of,  by  Huber,  173  ;  White  Termites,  175. 

Avhis  lanigera,  attacks  apple-trees,  99. 

Apteryx  (A.  MantelM),  engraving  of,  231. 

Aquatic  spider  and  its  diving-bell,  engraving  of, 
203. 

Arabian  mountain-chain,  formed  of  nummulites, 
37. 

Aranea  pullaria,  chicken-spider,  164. 

Archaeopteryx,  561,  note. 

Archegosaurus,  first  antediluvian  reptile,  549. 

Architects  of  the  sea,  57  ;  of  towns,  174, 


46 


INDEX. 


Arctic  regions,  solitudes  of,  645;  researches  in, 
646 ;  formed  of  a  congeries  of  islands,  646. 

Ariel  swallow,  engraving  of,  311. 

Aristolochia,  large  flowers  of,  448  ;  fecundated  by 
means  of  insects,  466;  A.  Clematitis,  engraving 
of,  465  ;  experiment  with,  466. 

Artemisia  vulgaris,  superstition  respecting,  742. 

Artocarpus  incisa,  bread-fruit  tree,  engraving  of 
fruit  of,  345. 

Arum,  Edible,  manner  of  transpiration,  397  ;  en- 
graving of,  397. 

Arum,  experiment  on,  by  Ruysch,  396. 

Arundo  indica,  germination  of,  engraving  of,  479. 

Asclepiadaceae,  fertilization  due  to  insects,  467. 

Asclepias  procera,  power  of  sustaining  drought, 
668. 

Ascophori,  494. 

Aspergilli,  404. 

Astronomers,  Ancient,  possessed  no  instruments, 
694. 

Atmosphere,  Dumas  on,  390,  and  note  ;  Liebig  on, 
391 ;  pressure  of,  712  ;  loaded  with  flour  of  wheat, 
686  ;  with  Infusoria,  debris  of  insects,  filaments 
of  cotton,  silk,  etc.,  687  ;  germs,  where  are  they  ? 
685 ;  substances  found  in  the  hollow  bones  of 
birds,  687. 

Atropa  Mandragora,  engraving  of,  434. 

Aurochs  vanished  from  France,  296. 

Aurora,  borea.lis  or  australis,  732 ;  engraving  of, 
729. 

Auvergne,  ancient  craters  in,  623. 

Avalanches,  how  formed,  642 ;  season  in  which 
they  occur,  642 ;  ravages  occasioned  by,  642. 

B. 

Balm,  411. 

Baltic,  beach  of,  rising,  595. 

Baltimore  Oriole,  a  skilful  weaver,  290 ;  nest  of, 
engraving  of,  290. 

Bamboo,  rapidity  of  growth,  407. 

Banyan-Tree,  its  aerial  roots  ultimately  reach  the 
soil  and  take  root  there,  370  ;  called  the  pagoda 
fig-tree,  371  ;  sometimes  so  large  as  to  seem  a 
forest,  371  ;  engraving  of,  369. 

Baobab,  great  size,  496  ;  ungraceful,  4% ;  use  made 
of  stem  by  negroes,  499  ;  engraving  of,  513. 

Bark,  the,  its  layers,  349  ;  inner,  351 ;  rapid  growth 
of,  405. 

Barn-Owl,  nest  of,  engraving  of,  258. 

Bartholin  on  the  odor  of  rosemary,  411. 

Basalt,  formation  of,  635 ;  cliffs  of,  in  Staffa,  en- 
graving of,  635. 

Bats,  do  not  migrate,  301 ;  Nycteris  of  Upper 
Egypt,  301 ;  engraving  of,  302. 

Bee,  Working,  remarkable  structure  of  its  feet, 
104 ;  brush  and  pincers  of,  engraving  of,  105 ; 
under  side  of,  engraving  of,  105  ;  intelligence  dis- 
played in  ejecting  enemies,  144 ;  some  invaders 
it  envelops  in  resinous  matter,  145 ;  displays 
foresight,  146  ;  remarkable  instinct  displayed  in 
making  a  queen,  147  ;  carpenter,  195  ;  its  habits, 
196 ;  its  little  chambers  for  its  young,  engraving 
of,  1%;  English  (Xylocopa  violacea),  197,  note; 
jnason,  205. 


Beetle,  Gigantic,  Goliath,  85;  luminous,  of  the 
West  Indies,  123 ;  use  made  of,  123 ;  engraving 
of,  121 ;  sacred  Scarabaeus,  127  ;  dung  Scarabaeus, 
mode  of  collecting  dung  in  which  to  hatch  its 
young,  152  ;  engraving  of,  153. 

Berlin  built  on  beds  of  animalcules,  20. 

Bernard  Palissy,  founder  of  positive  geology,  587. 

Bilin,  tripoli  of,  27  ;  Schleiden's  calculation  of  the 
number  of  animalcules  in  a  cubic  inch  of,  27,  28  ; 
extent  of  its  schists,  28. 

Birds,  architecture  of,  226  ;  of  humming-birds,  226, 
239 ;  of  swallows,  230  ;  of  king-fisher  and  mag- 
pie, 230;  eagles,  goshawks,  239;  their  abodes, 
246;  migration  of,  304;  engraving  of  condor, 
307  ;  cranes,  305 ;  engraving  of,  306 ;  mechanism 
of,  305;  swallow,  305;  wonderful  strength  of 
fran:e,  305 ;  speed  of  flight,  306 ;  ariel  swallow, 
engraving  of,  311  ;  sea-mews,  Sir  Hans  Sloane 
on  flight  of,  309 ;  vultures,  sense  of  smell,  309 ; 
quails,  migration  of,  understood,  309 ;  Charles 
Buxton  on  acclimatization  of  birds,  313,  note/ 
passenger  pigeon,  314 ;  speed  of  flight,  315 ;  en- 
graving of,  316  ;  penguins,  315. 

Bird-Tree,  engraving  of  741. 

Blood,  shower  of,  explained,  136;  due  to  certain 
diurnal  Lepidoptera,  137. 

Bombardier  (Brachmits),  its  ingenious  means  of 
protecting  itself  from  enemies,  142  ;  B.  crepitans 
defending  itself,  engraving  of,  143  ;  description 
of,  143,  note. 

Bombax  Ceiba,  soft  wood  of,  518. 

Bombyx  of  the  mulberry-tree,  132,  note  ;  B.  disperr, 
pine  silk-worm,  mode  of  forming  its  nest,  148 ; 
engraving  of,  149 ;  pine,  ravager  of  forest,  213 ; 
called  pine-spinne. ,  213 ;  monk  (B.  monacfin), 
213;  pine-eating  phalaena,  213;  engraving  of, 
214. 

Bone  caves,  658. 

Bonnet  on  revivification  of  animals,  45. 

Boscowitz  on  length  of  Convolvulus,  507. 

Bostrichus  beetle,  its  size,  216  ;  great  wood-gnawer, 
216 ;  curved-tooth,  218. 

Bower-Bird,  nuptial  arbor  of,  engraving  of,  267 ; 
mode  of  building  and  decorating,  266. 

Bread-Fruit,  used  as  bread  in  Otaheite,  345;  its 
cells  crammed  with  fecula,  345  ;  its  great  weight, 
346 ;  engraving  of,  345. 

Bremser's  hypothesis,  581,  note. 

Brindisi,  palm-tree  of,  468. 

Brocken,  spectres  of,  602  ;  engraving  of,  603. 

Brugmans  finds  that  the  roots  of  one  plant  poison 
those  of  another,  427. 

Bryum  alpinum,  524,  note. 

Buffaloes,  migration  of,  301 ;  Chateaubriand  on,  301. 

Buprestidae,  their  rich  garments,  89 ;  Buprestis  im- 
perialis,  engraving  of,  89. 

Burrowing-Owl,  its  subterranean  habits,  288 ;  bur- 
row of,  engraving  of,  287  ;  its  companions  under 
ground,  288. 

Burying  -  Beetle  (Xecrophorus  sepultor\  inters 
moles,  etc.,  183;  engraving  of,  183;  deposits  its 
eggs  in  dead  animals,  183 ;  interring  a  small  rat, 
engraving  of,  184. 

Butcher-Birds,  assassins,  261, 


INDEX. 


747 


Butterflies,  scales  from  wings  of,  engraving  of,  102  ; 
delicacy  of  their  wings,  102  ;  complicated  struc- 
ture of  scales  on,  102 ;  admirable  symmetry  of 
arrangement  of,  103. 

Butterfly,  changes  it  undergoes,  133;  head  and 
proboscis  of,  engraving  of,  134 ;  the  Great  Tor- 
toise-Shell (  Vanessa  polychloros),  engraving  of, 
136. 

Butter-Tree,  418. 

Buxton,  Charles,  on  acclimatization  of  birds,  313, 
note. 


C. 


Cabala,  believers  in,  660. 

Cacti,  thirst  of  animals  quenched  by,  665,  and  note. 

Cactus,  never  watered,  fed  by  moist  atmosphere, 
376 ;  plentiful  in  Mexico,  368 ;  grows  on  sterile 
rocks,  490  ;  grandiflorus  flowering,  437. 

Ccesalpinia  pluviosa,  vegetable  marvel  of  transpira- 
tion, 397  ;  engraving  of,  397. 

Cage  for  luminous  beetles,  123. 

Calamus  Rotang,  great  length,  507. 

Calendar,  floral,  formed  by  Linnaeus,  339. 

Calosoma  pursuing  a  bombardier,  engraving  of, 
143  ;  C.  sycophanta,  engraving  of,  223. 

Camerarius  discovered  sexuality  of  plants,  361 ; 
disputes  concerning,  362. 

Camphor-Tree,  exudes  camphor,  421 ;  engraving  of, 
423. 

Candleberry  myrtle  (Myrica  ceriferd),  414. 

Cantharis  officinalis,  125,  note. 

Capillary  attraction,  372. 

Capricornis,  Great,  engraving  of,  127 ;  excavates 
oak,  127. 

Caprification  of  fig-tree,  464,  note. 

Car  of  Neptune,  71. 

Carabi,  hunting  beetles,  155. 

Carabidae,  engravings  of,  139 ;  protectors  of  agri- 
culture, 224  ;  engravings  of,  223  ;  account  of,  224, 
note. 

Carabus  purpureus,  engraving  of,  156;  C.  gry- 
phceus,  engraving  of,  223. 

Carboniferous  period,  547  ;  luxuriant  vegetation  of, 
547. 

Carpenter-Bee,  its  habits,  195 ;  its  chambers  for  its 
young,  engraving  of,  196 ;  English  (Xylocopa  vi- 
olacea),  197,  note. 

Carpenters,  186 ;  insects  with  powerful  mandibles, 
with  which  they  cut  and  divide  wood,  192 ;  jet 
ant,  192  ;  larva  of  goat-moth,  192. 

Cassava,  abounds  in  midst  of  poison,  409,  note. 

Cassicus,  Crested,  nest  built  of  dry  grass,  293 ; 
great  length  of  nest,  294. 

Cataclysms,  591 ;  opinions  of  Klee  respecting,  592 ; 
still  to  be  expected,  594. 

Caterpillar,  great  number  of  muscles  in,  103  ;  mus- 
cular apparatus  of,  engraving  of,  103 ;  willow- 
eating,  engraving  of,  193  ;  great  digestive  power 
of,  111;  destroys  our  harvests,  112;  in  its  last 
stage  loses  its  digestive  apparatus,  112  ;  head  and 
jaws  of  willow-eating,  engraving  of,  112  ;  willow, 
hooked  feet  and  nail,  engraving  of,  135. 

Cavanilles'  experiment  to  see  trees  grow,  406. 


Caverns,  651 ;  animals  found  in,  651 ;  Mammoth 
Cave,  653 ;  bone,  658 ;  spirits  frequenting,  659. 

Cedars,  legends  in  Japan  respecting,  435 ;  of  Leba- 
non, 500  ;  of  California,  great  height  of,  500. 

Cell,  the,  in  tissues,  its  importance,  343;  minute 
size,  343  ;  its  power,  343  ;  rapidity  of  multiplica- 
tion, 343 ;  its  contents,  343. 

Cellular  tissue,  abounds  with  fecula,  345 ;  engrav- 
ing of,  filled  with  fecula,  344. 

Cerambyx,  Musk,  odor  of,  derived  from  same 
source  as  smell  of  bugs,  124 ;  C.  heros,  Great 
Capricornis,  excavates  timber,  195. 

Cereus  giganteus,  490  ;  great  size  of,  491. 

CeritMum  giganteum,  569  ;  engraving  of,  568. 

Ceroxylon  andicola,  413. 

Cetacean  attacking  a  ship,  engraving  of,  739. 

Cetonia,  variegated  with  beautiful  tints,  89;  C. 
cervus,  engraving  of,  89. 

Chalk  formation,  561. 

Chateaubriand  on  migration  of  buffaloes,  301. 

Chestnut-Tree,  marvel  of  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
499 ;  measurement  by  Count  Borch,  499  ;  legend 
connected  with,  499  ;  engraving  of,  501 ;  longev- 
ity very  great,  508. 

Chicken-Spider  (Aranea  pullaria),  164. 

Chiron  first  divides  the  sky  into  constellations,  692. 

Chlamydera  maculata,  266 ;  mode  of  building  and 
decorating  its  nuptial  arbor,  266 ;  engraving  of, 
267. 

Chlorops  lineata,  havoc  it  makes  in  grain-fields,  99, 
and  note. 

Chlorostilbon  prasinus,  319. 

Chrysalis,  engraving  of,  127,  132. 

Cicindela  campestris,  and  Chinese  Cicindela,  en- 
gravings of,  156. 

Ciliary  oars  of  Dytiscus,  engraving  of,  106. 

Cinchona  (C.  cordifolia'),  yields  a  powerful  febri- 
fuge, 419 ;  account  of  discovery  of  its  properties, 
419,  note  ;  engraving  of  plant,  419. 

Cinnamon-Tree,  secretes  an  aromatic,  421. 

Circulation  in  plants,  377 ;  great  force  of,  Hale's 
experiment,  377  ;  engraving  of,  378  ;  greater  than 
in  mammals,  378 ;  erroneous  views  respecting, 
384  ;  opinions  of  De  Candolle  and  Richard,  385  ; 
opinion  of  Schultz,  385. 

Civet  disseminates  coffee  seeds,  529,  and  note. 

Claw  of  lion,  engraving  of,  107  ;  of  spider,  engrav- 
ing of,  108. 

Clock,  Flower,  of  Linnaeus,  339 ;  of  Lamarck,  339. 

Cloth-Cutters,  198. 

Clothes-Moth,  197  ;  larvae  of,  engraving  of,  198 ;  in 
butterfly  state,  engraving  of,  199. 

Clouds  of  Magellan,  706  ;  of  what  formed,  706. 

Coal  period,  luxuriant  vegetation  of,  favored  by 
heat,  548 ;  imaginary  view  of  forest,  engraving 
of,  545 ;  first  reptile  of,  549. 

Coal-Sacks  of  southern  hemisphere,  706. 

Cocoa-Nuts  carried  off  by  currents,  523  ;  borne  to 
shores  of  Scandinavia,  523. 

Colocasla  esculenta,  engraving  of,  397. 

Color  in  flowers  mutable,  452;  example  of,  in 
Anemone  patens,  Anagallis  arvensis,  Myo.totis 
diversicolor,  Hibiscus  mutabilis,  and  Gladiolus 
versicolor,  453. 


748 


INDEX. 


Colpodos,  its  relative  size,  13. 

Columbu  migratoria,  great  size  of  flocks,  314; 
speed  of  flight,  315  ;  never  travel  at  night,  315 ; 
engraving  of,  31G  ;  carnage  of,  315. 

Columbus,  vessels  of,  impeded  by  Algae,  58. 

Comets,  721 ;  supposed  to  be  old  stars,  721 ;  New- 
ton taught  how  to  calculate  their  movements, 
721 ;  apprehensions  and  fantasies  respecting, 
722,  seq.;  Donati's,  engraving  of,  722  ;  bearded 
and  hairy,  724,  note  ;  immense  size  of,  725  ;  loose- 
ness of  their  constituent  particles,  725 ;  Huggins' 
opinion  respecting  comet  of  1806,  725,  note  ;  Ju- 
piter enveloped  by  one,  72G ;  imperfectly  known 
still,  727. 

Condor,  flight  of,  305 ;  engraving  of,  307. 

Cone  Pyralis,  engraving  of,  217  ;  gnaws  pine  cones, 
218. 

Conical  peaks  of  Admiralty  Strait,  engraving  of, 
597. 

Conifers?,  clothe  the  mountains,  492 ;  during  car- 
boniferous period,  547. 

Conjurors  preserved  from  effects  of  extreme  heat, 
44  ;  account  of  one,  44,  and  note. 

Constellations,  first  grouping  of,  692,  and  note; 
their  invention  attributed  to  the  Greeks,  693; 
their  significance,  693,  and  note;  several  men- 
tioned by  Homer,  693 ;  attempt  to  alter  their 
names,  694 ;  proposal  of  Sir  J.  Herschel  respect- 
ing their  boundaries,  694. 

Convolvulus,  incredible  length  stated  by  Bosco- 
witz,  507  ;  great  speed  of  growth,  507. 

Conyza  ccerulea,  522. 

Coral,  its  builders,  59 ;  its  use  in  ornament,  60 ;  a 
branched  Polypus  trunk,  60;  red  color,  and 
takes  fine  polish,  60 ;  opinion  of  Pliny,  of  Dios- 
corides,  and  of  Tournefort,  respecting,  60,  61  ; 
flowers  of,  supposed  discovery  of,  by  Count  Mar- 
sigli,  62 ;  Caryophillia  ramea,  engraving  of,  61 ; 
red  (C.  rubrum),  engraving  of,  62 ;  Peyssonnel's 
investigation,  63 ;  Nicolai's  investigations,  64 ; 
only  a  simple  marine  polypoid,  65 ;  natural  his- 
tory of,  completed  by  Lacaze-Duthiers,  65,  note ; 
banks,  65 ;  islands,  great  extent  of,  66  ;  mode  of 
formation,  67 ;  Polypi  have  acted  powerfully  on 
crust  of  globe,  66 ;  fed  upon  by  fish  of  genus 
Sparus,  67  ;  island,  engraving  of,  68  ;  their  office 
in  cleansing  the  waters  of  the  sea,  70 ;  Ellis  ad- 
dresses hymn  to  Creator  respecting  marvels  of, 
70,  and  note. 

Cordiceps  Robertsii,  engraving  of,  681. 

Cork  stripped  from  trees,  350  ;  it  is  not  bark,  350  ; 
tree,  section  of,  engraving  of,  350. 

Cornelians,  red  tint  of,  due  to  Infusoria,  29. 

Corn- Weevil  ( Calandra.  granaria),  account  of,  332, 
note  ;  engraving  of,  333. 

Corolla,  what  it  is,  361. 

Corozo  palm,  seeds  of,  yield  vegetable  ivory, 
476. 

Corpuscules,  floating  in  the  atmosphere,  685 ;  most 
plentiful  near  cities,  686  ;  penetrate  into  our  re- 
spiratory organs,  687  ;  retained  in  the  hollow 
bones  of  birds,  687. 

Corvus  pica,  nest  of,  engraving  of,  227. 
Corydalis  cava,  fertilization  of,  465,  note. 


Corypha  umbraculifera  (taliput  palm),  leaves  of, 
358. 

Cossi,  carry  on  destruction  silently,  215. 

Cossus  ligniperda  (goat-moth),  caterpillar  of,  en- 
graving of,  103 ;  destroys  trees,  195 ;  engraving 
of,  193. 

Cotopaxi,  eruption  of,  624 ;  engraving  of,  625  ;  fish 
ejected  by,  629. 

Cotyledons,  what  they  are,  476. 

Cow-Tree,  a  native  of  Caracas,  yields  milk,  418. 

Crab,  hermit,  198  ;  soldier,  198. 

Crane,  migration  of,  305 ;  engraving  of,  305. 

Craters,  ancient,  of  France  and  Italy,  618. 

Creation,  Chinese  account  of,  4  ;  Scandinavian  ac- 
count of,  4 ;  time  of,  theories  respecting,  574. 

Creator,  the  Chinese,  4  ;  Scandinavian,  4. 

Cretaceous  formation,  561. 

Crust  of  the  earth,  how  formed,  438,  439  ;  breaking 
up  of,  539. 

Cryptococcus  cerevisice,  engraving  of,  684. 

Cucifera  Thebaica,  489. 

Cuckoo,  the,  a  spoiler,  deposits  egg  in  nest  of 
golden  wren,  2C3  ;  eats  eggs,  263 ;  ejects  the 
young  of  golden-crested  wren  from  the  nest, 
264 ;  killing  golden-crested  wrens,  engraving  of, 
264. 

Curculio,  the  Pine,  engraving  of,  140. 

Curculios,  gleam  like  precious  stones,  89. 

Cuttle-Fish,  or  Polypus,  39. 

Cuvier  on  swallows  during  winter,  310,  note. 

Cyclopean,  monuments  erected  by  the  Phreni- 
cians,  576 ;  rocks  near  Sicily,  601. 

Cyperus  Papyrus,  paper-sedge,  352  ;  early  use  of, 
in  writing,  352,  note;  engraving  of,  353. 

Cypress,  great  age  and  size,  515  ;  De  Candolle  on, 
516. 

Cyprinodons  found  in  Mammoth  Cave,  engraving 
of,  653. 


D. 


Dacus  of  olive-tree,  destroys  olives,  99. 

Date-Palm,  need  for  its  artificial  fecundation 
known  to  the  ancients,  462;  date  harvest  of 
Egypt  assured  by  this  process,  462  ;  experiments 
on,  4C3. 

Datura  stramonium,  a  cabalistic  plant,  742. 

Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  theory  of  volcanic  action, 
630. 

Dead  Sea  of  Mammoth  Cave,  engraving  of,  657. 

De  Candolle,  on  enormous  size  of  lime-tree,  495 ; 
on  cypress,  515  ;  on  the  age  of  trees,  516. 

Deluges  of  the  post-tertiary  epoch,  574. 

Denderah,  zodiac  of,  576. 

Deserts,  661  ;  sometimes  a  sea  of  sand,  661 ;  some- 
times covered  with  verdure,  661 ;  sometimes 
stony,  rugged  soil,  661 ;  aspect  of,  662  ;  Korotko, 
662,  note;  engraving  of,  663  ;  oases  in,  C62  ;  mo- 
notony of,  668  ;  in  Upper  Egypt,  aspect  of,  668 ; 
great  heat  in,  668  ;  mirage  in,  670  ;  engraving  of, 
671  ;  sun  rising  and  setting  of,  675. 

Desmodia  oscillans,  the  oscillation  of  its  leaflets, 
442  ;  engraving  of,  442. 

Devourers  of  towns,  174. 


INDEX. 


749 


Diatomaceae,  mud  in  Wismar  harbor  largely  com- 
posed of,  21 ;  figures  of,  22. 

Dicfamnus  Fraxinella,  combustion  of  vapors  of, 
engraving  of  mode  of  showing,  415;  of  Crete, 
vulnerary  properties  of,  744 ;  used  by  Venus  to 
dress  the  wounds  of  ^Eneas,  744. 

Diesing,  revivification  of  animalcules,  51. 

Diluvium,  contains  population  of  colossi,  570  ;  why 
so  named,  574. 

Dinornis  of  New  Zealand,  175 ;  engraving  of,  234. 

Dioncea  muscipula,  leaves  of,  snares  for  insects, 
444;  alleged  to  be  carnivorous,  445,  note  ;  en- 
graving of,  444. 

Dioscorides  on  sugar-cane,  412. 

Diptera,  some  species  have  no  wings,  90. 

Diving-Bell,  invented  by  a  spider,  201 ;  engraving 
of,  203. 

Doum-Palm,  490. 

Dove,  the,  its  nest,  257. 

Dracaena  Draco,  517  ;  engraving  of,  516. 

Dragon-Flies,  great  hunters,  1GO. 

Dragon-Fly  (Libellula},  its  changes,  126  ;  the  grown 
differs  so  much  from  the  young  insect  as  not  to 
be  recognizable,  127  ;  L.  depre.ssa,  life  and  meta- 
morphoses of,  engraving  of,  129. 

Dragon's-Blood  Tree,  strange  look,  size,  antiquity, 
517  ;  legends  of,  517  ;  engraving  of,  516  ;  Bethen- 
court's  measurement,  517,  and  note  ;  Humboldt's 
measurement,  517. 

Drone-Fly  and  its  larva  the  rat-tailed  maggot,  116 ; 
engraving  of,  119. 

Drosera,  Round-Leaved,  destroys  flies,  445. 

Duhamel's  experiment  shows  identity  of  organs, 
347  ;  engraving  of,  348,  on  growth  of  plants,  404. 

Dumas  on  the  atmosphere,  390,  and  note. 

Dytiscus,  foot  transformed  into  an  oar,  105 ;  en- 
graving of,  106 ;  its  intelligence  and  stratagem 
to  avoid  being  seized,  140,  141. 


E. 


Eagle  carrying  off  children,  236 ;  recent  instance 
of,  236,  note  ;  eyry  of  eagle,  261. 

Earth,  The,  an  immense  cemetery,  540  ;  shape  and 
area,  711  ;  enveloped  in  thick  layer  of  air,  712  ; 
has  one  satellite,  712  ;  dimensions  of  it,  712  ;  com- 
parative dimensions  of  earth  and  moon,  engrav- 
ing of,  713  ;  is  undergoing  changes,  713  ;  specula- 
tions respecting,  713. 

Earth-Eaters,  30  ;  Ottomacs  in  S.  America,  30  ;  in 
N.  America,  30  ;  in  Lapland,  32. 

Earthquakes,  615;  what  they  result  from,  631; 
phenomena  connected  with,  630,  632  ;  of  Lisbon, 
631  ;  Messina,  632. 

Eirwig,  resemblance  between  larva,  nymph,  and 
imago,  133  ;  engraving  of,  133. 

Eel.3,  irresistible  desire  to  change  locality,  298  ; 
origin  not  yet  unravelled,  299  ;  pass  up  rivers  in 
swarms,  299  ;  sudden  disappearance  of,  299  ;  used 
for  food,  299,  note. 

Eggs,  comparative  dimensions  of,  engraving  of, 
236. 

Egyptian  capturing  wi'.d  ^ee  e,  engraving  of,  298. 


Ehrenberg,  his  work  on  Infusoria,  11 ;  demon- 
strates their  complicated  organization,  11  ;  saw 
the  blood-red  tinge  in  Red  Sea,  20  ;  exposure  of 
animalcules  to  heat,  45  ;  revivification  of  animal- 
cules, 51. 

Elater  noctilucus,  engraving  of,  121. 

Elephant  found  in  Arctic  regions,  572. 

Elm,  Duhamel  respecting  ground  at  roots  of,  427. 

Elves,  660. 

Embryo,  The,  474  ;  impatience  of,  to  reach  the  air, 
475  ;  Malpighi's  observations  on,  481. 

Emperor  Moth,  engraving  of  131  ;  its  emergence 
from  the  chrysalis  state,  131. 

Endosmosis,  372. 

Engineers,  Hydraulic,  201. 

Ephemera,  Common,  engraving  of,  113 ;  its  de- 
velopment, 134. 

Epidermis,  The,  what  it  is,  350. 

Epiornis,  235  ;  egg,  engraving  of,  236. 

Equiseta,  horse-tails,  548. 

Erebus,  Mount,  in  the  Antarctic  regions,  640  ;  en- 
graving of,  639. 

Eristalu  tenaz,  119. 

Erosion,  Valley  of,  in  Mount  Taurus,  engraving  of, 
607. 

Erratic  blocks,  573. 

Ervum  lens,  531,  note. 

Esquimaux,  their  power  of  resisting  cold,  649. 

Etna,  609  ;  the  Casa  di  Diavolo,  600  ;  view  from, 
600 ;  eruption  of,  624  ;  cascade  of  lava,  engraving 
of,  626. 

Eucalypti,  very  great  size,  506  ;  Ferdinand  Miiller 
on,  504  ;  George  Robins  on,  504  ;  height,  504. 

Evelyn  on  great  size  of  plane,  4%,  note. 

Everest,  Mount,  the  highest  of  mountains,  596,  note. 


F. 


Fecula,  cells  filled  with,  engraving  of,  344  ;  abounds 
in  cellular  tissue,  345 ;  in  bread-fruit,  346  ;  in 
certain  palms,  346. 

Fecundation  of  plants,  phenomena  connected  with, 
458,  el  seq.  ;  influence  of  insects  on,  464. 

Ferns,  Arborescent,  493 ;  engraving  of,  493. 

Fertilization  of  plants,  phenomena  of,  458,  et  seq. 

Ficus  religiosa  (banyan-tree),  engraving  of,  369. 

Field  of  Giants,  589. 

Fir,  great  age,  508. 

Firehole  Basin,  Rocky  Mountains,  engraving  of, 
633  ;  description  of,  634,  note. 

Firmament,  Hesiod's  idea  of  extent  of,  698. 

Fishes,  migration  of,  320,  322  ;  showers  of,  322,  and 
note  ;  found  in  caverns,  657. 

Flamingo,  the  most  powerful  of  the  masons,  281  ; 
builds  near  the  sea,  281  ;  on  the  ground,  and 
formed  wholly  of  mud,  281  ;  height  and  form  of 
nest,  279  ;  engraving  of  nest  of,  281. 

Flax-Plant,  its  antipathy  for  Scabiosa  arvensi-s,  427. 

Fleshy  plants,  490. 

Flies,  some  which  never  fly,  91. 

Flint,  contains  Infusoria,  29  ;  contains  remains  of 
sponge",  56  ;  connection  with  sponge,  56  ;  pre- 
historic flint  instruments,  578. 


750 


INDEX. 


Floral  Calendar  formed  by  Linnaeus,  339 ;  its  de- 
tails, 339  ;  floral  clocks,  339. 

Florentine  Iris,  engraving  of,  305. 

Flower,  The,  359 ;  Rousseau's  description  of,  359, 
note  ;  Goethe's  discovery  respecting,  359  ;  a  meta- 
morphosed leaf,  3GO  ;  various  parts  of,  360. 

Flowers,  the  regularity  of  the  time  of  opening  used 
for  marking  time,  339  ;  opening  affected  by  at- 
mospheric conditions  used  as  barometers,  339 ; 
clock  of  Linnaeus,  339  ;  of  Lamarck,  339. 

Fluviales,  387,  note. 

Fly,  a  simple,  damage  it  does  in  Africa,  94  ;  called 
tsetse,  and  shaped  like  our  common  fly,  94 ;  our 
domestic  or  common,  torments  travellers  in  hot 
countries,  96  ;  dread  these  more  than  the  hyaena, 
96 ;  in  Upper  Egypt  cover  the  face  of  children 
like  a  mask,  97  ;  death  resulting  from  attacks  of, 
97,  and  note  ;  four  hundred  species  frequent  the 
pine-tree,  98  ;  yellow,  streaked  with  black  (Chlo- 
rops  lineata),  attacks  gram,  99,  and  note  ;  destroys 
a  fifth  part  of  the  barley  crops  of  Sweden,  99 ; 
common,  rapidity  of  the  vibration  of  its  wings, 
100;  aerial  mouth  or  stigma  of,  engraving  of, 
115  ;  drone  and  its  larva,  engraving  of,  119. 

Fondia  erythrops,  290  ;  nest  of,  engraving  of,  290. 

Fontana,  belief  in  resuscitation  of  mummies,  46. 

Fontenelle,  censures  philosophy  of  words,  6;  his 
opinion  of  the  philosophy  of  things,  6. 

Foot,  of  working  bee,  its  structure,  104  ;  of  Dytis- 
cus,  105  ;  engraving  of,  106  ;  of  flies,  105 ;  form 
saws,  rakes,  chisels,  106. 

Foraminifera,  microscopic  chalk  formations  com- 
posed of,  81  ;  engravings  of,  82 ;  great  numbers 
in  small  space,  82,  note  ;  hill  near  Dover  com- 
posed of,  82  ;  in  Meudon  chalk,  engraving  of,  83. 

Forces  of  our  planet,  their  power,  5  ;  mountains 
raised  by,  5. 

Forest,  Virgin,  486  ;  impenetrable  and  sombre,  493. 

Forficula,  earwig,  resemblance  between  larva, 
nymph,  and  imago,  133  ;  engraving  of,  133. 

Formica  fuliginosa,  jet  ant,  a  carver,  192. 

Fossil :  meal,  30  ;  shells  of  secondary  period,  en- 
graving of,  560  ;  shells  of  tertiary  epoch,  engrav- 
ing of,  568. 

Fossiliferous  rocks,  represent  catacombs,  583. 

Fossils,  583  ;  misunderstood  by  our  ancestors,  586  ; 
erroneous  opinions  respecting,  588. 

Fraxinella,  gaseous  exudation  from,  takes  fire,  416  ; 
mode  of  showing,  engraving  of,  415. 

Frnxinus  ornus,  413,  note  ;  engraving  of,  414. 

Frogs,  showers  of,  320 ;  records  of  various  in- 
stances, 320 ;  Cardan's  hypothesis  concerning, 
321. 

Fuci,  root  in,  348. 

Fucus,  Swimming,  or  Sargassum,  immense  meadow 
of,  57 ;  engraving  of,  58 ;  F.  giganteus,  great 
length,  507  ;  F.  tendo,  518  ;  used  for  making 
fishing-nets,  518. 

Fulgora,  123,  note. 

Fulica  chloropus,  water-hen,  its  elegant  nest,  270. 

Fungi,  rapidity  of  growth,  408 ;  lycoperdon  (L. 
giganteum),  408  ;  engraving  of,  410  ;  Lindley  on 
the  lycoperdon,  408  ;  Bulliard  on  fungi,  408 ; 
mould,  494  ;  prodigious  fecundity  of,  521 ;  curi- 


ous habitats  of  some,  682  ;  on  neck  of  caterpil- 
lar, 683  ;  and  engraving  of,  681. 
Furnai-ius  rufus,  its  mode  of  building,  287. 

G. 

Galium  aparine,  526. 

Gall  insects,  immolate  themselves  to  protect  their 

young,  149. 

Gasterosteus  trachurus,  stickleback,  engraving  of, 
and  nest,  323. 

Gates  in  mountains,  606. 

Gavaruie,  Circus  of,  609. 

Geckoes,  their  activity,  they  prey  upon  young  bees, 
206. 

Geese,  Wild,  wonderful  arrangement  of,  in  travers- 
ing the  air,  296  ;  difficulty  of  capturing,  297  ; 
catching  wild  geese  engraving,  298;  Egyptian 
carrying  wild  geese  to  market,  297. 

Germination,  474 ;  phenomena  of,  474,  seq. ;  of 
Arundo  Indica,  engraving  of,  479  ;  warmth  re- 
quired for,  482  ;  air  important  in,  482  ;  hastened 
by  electricity,  484 ;  effect  of  light  on,  484,  and 
note. 

Geysers,  634 ;  of  Yellowstone  Region,  634,  note  ; 
engraving  of,  633  ;  of  Iceland,  634. 

Giant  Sirex,  larva  of,  gnaws  lead  balls,  201  ;  S. 
giganteus,  engraving  of,  200. 

Giants  and  Pigmies,  233. 

Giants,  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  494  ;  causeways, 
635  ;  in  Staffa,  engraving  of,  635. 

Gigantic  figures,  seen  on  the  Brocken,  602,  and 
engraving,  603  ;  traced  on  distant  clouds,  602. 

Glacial  epoch,  573  ;  ravages  made  during,  573 ; 
rocks  transported  by  ice,  573  ;  erratic  blocks, 
573. 

Glaciers,  636  ;  dangers  of  traversing,  636  ;  where 
most  frequent,  643  ;  form  seas  of  ice,  643  ;  in 
Spitzbergen,  engraving  of,  641  ;  motion  of,  644 ; 
phenomena  of,  and  extent  of,  644. 

Gladiolus  versicolor,  mutability  of  its  color,  453. 

Gleaners,  240. 

Globe,  formation  of  the,  537  ;  on  fire,  538  ;  cooling 
down  of,  538  ;  contraction  of,  when  cooling,  538. 

Glowworm,  luminosity  of,  121  ;  male  and  female, 
engraving  of,  121. 

Glyptodon,  567. 

Gnat,  rapidity  of  the  vibration  of  its  wings,  100. 

Gnat,  Common,  larva  of,  engraving  of,  116 ;  its 
habits,  lives  in  stagnant  water,  116  ;  has  not 
organs  of  swimming,  117  ;  means  it  possesses  for 
locomotion,  117. 

Gnats,  enemies  to  man,  93 ;  in  some  places  men 
subjected  to  their  empire,  93  ;  organs  of  mouth 
of,  engraving  of,  92,  note. 

Gnomes  laying  bare  skeleton  of  Ichthyosaurus,  en- 
graving of,  557  ;  account  of,  660,  and  note. 

Goat-Moth  (Cossus  ligniperdd),  engraving  of,  193. 

Goedart,  study  of  insect  metamorphoses,  91. 

Goenong  Api,  617,  note  ;  engraving  of,  617. 

Goldau,  Valley  of,  vegetation  of,  531,  note. 

Golden  Oriole,  nest  of,  engraving  of,  254. 

Goliath,  gigantic  beetle,  85  ;  of  Drury  (G.  gigan- 
teus), engraving  of,  86. 


INDEX. 


751 


Goose-Grass,  526. 

Gorges,  remarkable,  in  Black  Forest,  G05  ;  of 
erosion  in  Mount  Taurus,  609  ;  engraving  of,  GOT. 

Goshawk,  nest  of,  261  ;  engraving  of,  259. 

Graminaceae,  490. 

Granite-Beds,  542. 

Grasshoppers,  ravage  portions  of  the  United  States, 
328. 

Grave-Diggers,  182. 

Grebe,  Little,  its  floating  nest,  274 ;  method  of 
escaping  from  enemy,  274  ;  nests  of,  engraving 
of,  275. 

Grossbeak,  Sociable,  the  immense  cluster  of  nests 
built  by,  252  ;  engraving  of ,  249  ;  appearance  of, 
seen  from  a  distance,  252. 

Grottoes,  651  ;  Antiparos,  651  ;  remarkable  features 
of,  652  ;  Mammoth,  654. 

Gryllolalpa  vulgaris,  mole  -  cricket,  subterranean 
habits  and  devastation  it  produces,  185,  186; 
engraving  of,  184. 

Guettard,  experiment  to  decide  amount  of  vege- 
table transpiration,  393 ;  engraving  of  experi- 
ment, 394. 

Gutta-Percha,  yielded  by  plants  of  the  Sapotaceae, 
417. 

Gymnotus  electricus,  667  ;  account  of,  667,  note. 

Gypaetus  barbatus,  bearded  vulture,  attacks  hunt- 
ers, 236. 


II. 


Halcyon,  wave-rocked  nest,  ancient  fables  respect- 
ing, 273;  Pliny's  opinion  of,  Plutarch's  belief 
concerning,  274 ;  our  kingfisher,  274. 

Hale's  experiment  on  force  of  circulation  in  plants, 
377  ;  engraving  of,  378  ;  experiment  on  transpira- 
tion of  plants,  395 ;  engraving  of,  395. 

Ham,  Town  of,  shower  of  toads  at,  321. 

Hans  Sloane  on  flight  of  sea-mews,  309. 

Haricot,  531,  note. 

Hartzoeker,  reputed  the  discoverer  of  the  micro- 
scope, 7  ;  attacks  and  insults  Leuwenhoeck,  8. 

Harz,  spectres  of  Brocken,  602  ;  engraving  of,  603. 

Hedgehog,  protects  agriculture,  223  ;  not  a  vegeta- 
ble but  a  flesh  eater,  223  ;  used  in  place  of  cats 
in  Astrachan,  223. 

Hedge-Mustard,  sudden  appearance  of,  after  the 
fire  of  London,  485. 

Helichrysum  fetidum,  530. 

Hellenes,  their  views  respecting  fire  and  water, 
616. 

Hell  Valley,  605. 

Hepialus  virescens,  engraving  of,  681. 

Hercynian  Forest,  606. 

Hermit-Crab,  198. 

Herring,  its  habits  and  migrations,  322 ;  large 
numbers  taken,  324,  note. 

Hibiscus  mutabilis,  mutability  of  its  color,  453. 

Hippopotami,  attached  to  native  soil,  300. 

Hirundo  esculenta,  its  habits,  282 ;  engraving  of 
nest  of,  282 ;  mode  of  gathering  the  nests,  used 
as  food,  285  ;  their  value  in  the  market,  286,  note; 
H.  ariel,  engraving  of,  311 :  attached  to  its  old 
nest,  314. 


Honey-Ant  (Myrmecocyctus  Mexicanus),  collected 
and  eaten,  172  ;  engraving  of,  173. 

Huber's  observations  on  ants,  169,  seq.;  corrobo- 
rated by  Smith  and  Darwin,  171 ;  description  of 
battle  of,  173. 

Human  Race,  antiquity  of,  576 ;  remains  in  drift- 
gravel,  578,  note. 

Humboldt  on  sense  of  smell  in  -vultures,  309. 

Humming-Bird,  234 ;  minute  size  of,  234 ;  nest  of 
saw-beaked,  237. 

Hut,  negro,  lighted  by  beetles,  engraving  of,  122. 

Hydraulic  engineers,  201. 

Hydrophilus  piceus,  water-beetle,  202. 

Hygroscopic  action,  372. 

Hylesinus,  Pine,  and  nuptial  chamber  of,  engraving 
of,  216. 


Icebergs,  a  means  of  disseminating  plants,  525  ;  in 
Polar  regions,  646 ;  dangers  of,  646  ;  breaking  up 
of,  647,  note ;  chain  of,  engraving  of,  649. 

Iceland,  colonization  of,  due  to  birds,  528. 

Ice-Plant,  engraving  of,  373. 

Ichneumons,  rapacity  of,  150 ;  larvae  of,  devour 
caterpillars,  engraving  of,  151 ;  their  mode  of 
encasing  their  victim  discovered  by  Leuwen- 
hoeck and  Vallisneri,  152. 

Ichthyosaurus,  555 ;  coprolites  of,  plentiful,  556 ; 
engraving  of  head  of,  555. 

Idlers  and  assassins,  255. 

Iguanodons,  562,  and  note. 

Imago,  or  perfect  insect,  131 ;  its  birth,  131. 

Immensity,  everywhere,  3. 

Infusoria,  an  inappropriate  term,  10 ;  better  em- 
ploy Microzoa  or  Protozoa,  10  ;  their  complicated 
organization  demonstrated  by  Ehrenberg,  11 ; 
figure  of,  11 ;  some  have  eyes,  14  ;  their  incessant 
activity,  14;  Owen's  opinion  respecting,  15; 
found  at  bottom  of  Antarctic  Ocean,  figure  of, 
15 ;  swarm  in  transparent  waters  of  ocean,  and 
in  muddy  waters  of  rivers  and  ponds,  18  ;  theory 
of  their  mode  of  increase,  21,  note;  meteoric, 
23  ;  antediluvian,  26 ;  their  prodigious  abundance 
during  certain  geological  periods,  26 ;  stratified 
rocks  formed  of,  26 ;  constitute  mountains,  26 ; 
form  tripolis,  26 ,  found  in  flint,  29 ;  silicious 
skeletons  of,  cause  the  red  color  in  cornelians, 
29. 

Insects,  85 ;  intelligence  of,  perfection  of  tools  of, 
85 ;  may  be  grouped  into  castes  of  workmen,  85; 
extremes  of  size  and  strength,  85  ;  leaf  (Mormo- 
lyce  phyllodes),  engraving  of,  87  ;  organization, 
marvels  of,  91 ;  information  respecting,  due  to 
anatomy  and  the  microscope,  and  to  men  who 
have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  object,  91 ;  spe- 
cially to  Lyonet  and  Goedart,  91 ;  shows  that  na- 
ture knows  how  to  unite  power  to  an  exquisite 
fineness  of  mechanism,  93 ;  great  strength  of, 
103  ;  flea,  an  illustration  of,  104 ;  touch  supplies 
want  of  language,  107  ;  ants  talk  by  touch,  107  ; 
remarkable  power  of  sight,  107,  108 ;  exquisite 
sense  of  smell,  109;  resident  in  the  antennae, 
109 ;  wonderful  organization  of  olfactory  appa- 


752 


INDEX. 


ratus,  110 ;  possess  sense  of  hearing,  but  auditory 
apparatus  not  yet  discovered,  110,  and  note; 
have  often  three  stomachs,  111 ;  great  digestive 
power  of,  111 ;  heart  of,  description  of,  113 ;  cir- 
culation of,  113  ;  respiratory  organs  of,  114  ;  ae- 
rial mouth  of  common  fly,  engraving  of,  115; 
tracheae,  116;  ravages  of,  117  ;  fecundity  of,  117  ; 
eggs  of,  118 ;  sexuality  of,  121 ;  luminous,  121 ; 
luminosity  of,  Sir  H.  Davy  and  Treviranus  on, 
122,  note;  metamorphoses  of,  12G;  their  change 
of  food,  126 ;  wingless  at  birth,  128 ;  apparatus 
for  flying  last  developed,  128  ;  the  young  called 
larva,  or  mask,  128  ;  becomes  a  nymph,  128  ;  im- 
ago, 131 ;  its  birth,  131 ;  intelligence  of,  137  ; 
care  of  offspring,  138 ;  knowledge  of  the  time 
when  various  changes  to  be  made,  138  ;  Camper's 
views,  139 ;  reaches  the  greatest  subtlety,  140 ; 
examples  of,  141,  seq.;  supposed  to  be  automatic, 
143  ;  tricks,  various,  143  ;  maternal  instinct  of, 
148 ;  hunting,  155  ;  Carabi  and  tiger-beetles,  155 ; 
their  devices  to  catch  prey,  155;  dragon-flies, 
160  ;  spiders,  160  ;  slave-makers,  164  ;  wonderful 
order  observed  when  removing,  297  ;  Lepidop- 
tera,  peregrinations  of  larvae,  297  ;  migrations  of, 
324 ;  influence  of,  on  fecundation  of  flowers,  463  ; 
experimental  demonstration  of,  engraving  of, 
465 ;  instances  of,  4G5  ;  for  want  of  this  influence 
some  exotic  plants  remain  barren  in  France,  467. 

Iron  Gates  of  Algeria,  606. 

Ironwood,  519. 

Irritability,  Vegetable,  examples  of,  446. 

Island-Builders,  65;  their  submarine  operations, 
65 ;  carried  on  principally  in  South  Sea  and  the 
Red  Sea,  66. 

Ivory,  fossil,  571. 

J. 

Jasmine,  steeped  in  precious  essences,  411. 

Java,  beauty  and  violence  of  its  volcanoes,  622. 

Jet  Ant,  a  wonderful  carver,  192. 

John's  Wort,  St.,  superstition  respecting,  742. 

Joiners,  insects  which  cut  and  divide  wood,  192. 

Jorullo,  upheaval  of,  594  ;  engraving  of,  595. 

Josephus,  age  of  turpentine-tree  near  Hebron,  512. 

Jupiter,  Messengers  of,  320. 

Jupiter  Serapis,  temple  of,  columns  cut  by  Modiola, 
77  ;  changes  in  level  of,  77,  78,  and  note;  engrav- 
ing of,  75. 

Jurassic  strata,  552. 


K. 


Kangaroos,  attached  to  native  soil,  300. 

Kaurisankar,  the  highest  of  mountains,  5%,  note. 

Kepler's  opinion  about  the  stars,  691. 

Kernel,  what  composed  of,  475. 

Khamsin,  desert  tempest  in  Egypt,  669. 

King  Penguin  (Aptenodytes  Palagonica),  engraving 

of,  229. 
Knight's  experiment   on   transpiration  of  plants, 

402. 

Kobolds,  660,  and  note. 
Korosko,  desert  of,  662,  note  ;  engraving  of,  6C3. 


Labyrinthodon,  552. 

Lacreze  -  Fossat,  experiments  as  to  quantity  of 
respirable  gas  discharged  by  certain  plants, 
391. 

Lagetto,  bark  of,  negresses'  dress  made  of,  123. 

Lagomys,  accumulates  heaps  of  hay,  246. 

Lake-Dwellings,  their  import,  579;  similarity  in 
dwellings  of  the  Papuans,  580,  note. 

Lampyris  nocliluca,  121 ;  engraving  of,  121. 

Land-Crabs,  respire  water,  perform  singular  jour- 
neys, 333;  frequent  mountains,  333;  means  of 
carrying  water  to  moisten  branchiae,  333. 

Language,  Antennal,  107. 

Laplanders,  feed  on  mountain-meal,  32. 

Larrey  on  emigration  of  swallows,  313. 

Larva,  or  mask,  name  given  by  Linnaeus  to  young 
of  insects,  128  ;  in  this  state  does  nothing  but  eat 
and  grow,  128  ;  becomes  a  nymph,  128  ;  a  cater- 
pillar, engraving  of,  127,  132. 

Lathrcea  squamaria,  remarkable  growth  of,  440. 

Laurus  fcetens,  398,  note  ;  L.  cinnamomum,  yields 
cinnamon,  420;  L.  camphora,  yields  camphor, 
421 ;  engraving  of,  423. 

Lavender,  411. 

Lavoisier  on  respiration  of  plants,  390. 

Laurence's  Rain,  St.,  728. 

Lead-Eaters,  197 ;  Sirex  giganteus  (Giant  Sirex), 
197. 

Leaf,  The,  355. 

Leaf-Insect,  ( Mormolyce  phyllodes),  87. 

Leaves,  the  lungs  of  plants,  356,  386 ;  not  always 
present,  356  ;  composed  of  two  parts,  petiole  and 
blade,  356  ;  sometimes  in  aquatic  plants  re&ernble 
a  net-work,  and  remind  us  of  the  branchiae  of 
fish,  356 ;  sometimes  form  long  capillary  fila- 
ments, 356 ;  aerial,  or  pulmonary,  and  aquatic, 
or  branchial,  leaves  of  the  aquatic  Ranunculus 
(B.  aqualili.?),  engraving  of,  356 ;  immense,  of 
Victoria  regia,  357  ;  engraving  of,  357  ;  of  taliput 
palm,  358 ;  exceptions,  387. 

Lecanora  esculenta,  engraving  of,  522. 

Leguminosae,  seeds  of,  used  as  soap,  422,  note. 

Lemery,  theory  of  volcanic  action,  630. 

Lemming,  extraordinary  migration  of,  303 ;  en- 
graving of,  303  ;  great  courage  of,  304. 

Lenses,  great  power  of  some  recently  made,  8. 

Lentil,  531,  note. 

Lepidium  Draba,  485,  note. 

Lepidodendra,  547. 

Lepidoptera,  peregrinations  of  larva?,  297  ;  wonder- 
ful o^der  observed  in,  297  ;  the  processionary 
Bomoyx,  298. 

Lepsius  work  on  Egypt,  297. 

Leuwenhoeck,  discovers  the  microscope,  and  his 
treatment  of  Hartzoeker,  7,  8;  his  work  out- 
strips his  instruments,  8;  small  power  of  his 
lenses,  8. 

Lias,  552. 

Libellula,  the  changes  it  undergoes,  126;  L.  de- 
pressa,  life  and  metamorphosis  of,  engraving  of, 
129 ;  fossil,  engraving  of,  584. 

Liber,  layers  of,  where  found,  their  character,  351 ; 


INDEX. 


753 


uses  to  which  it  is  put,  351 ;  cloth  and  paper 
formed  of  it,  351. 

Lichen-Rock,  486 ;  slow  growth  of,  491 ;  edible,  en- 
graving of,  522. 

Liebig  on  atmosphere,  391. 

Life,  its  varied  manifestations,  337. 

Light,  gleams  of,  shown  by  plants,  417  ;  attributed 
to  electricity,  417  ;  first  observed  by  Mademoi- 
selle Linnaeus,  417  ;  confirmed  by  various  natu- 
ralists, 417,  note  ;  rapidity  of  transmission  of  its 
rays,  699,  700 ;  time  taken  from  the  sun  to  the 
earth,  699 ;  time  taken  from  certain  stars,  699, 
note ;  time  taken  to  come  from  the  stars  of  the 
Milky  Way,  700,  701 ;  source  of,  may  be  extin- 
guished while  we  still  see  its  rays,  701. 

Lilac,  531,  note. 

Liliacese,  their  beauty,  490. 

Lilium  candidum  (white  lily),  perianth  of,  engrav- 
ing of,  360,  531,  note. 

Lily  Crioceris  (C.  merdigera),  means  by  which 
it  protects  itself,  141,  and  note;  engraving  of, 
142. 

Lime-Tree,  De  Candolle  on  great  size  of,  495 ;  of 
Morat,  age  of,  508  ;  engraving  of,  509. 

Lindley  on  the  Lycoperdon  giganteum,  408. 

Linnaeus,  forms  floral  calendar  and  clock,  339. 

Lithophagi  stone-eaters,  54  ;  engraving  of,  77. 

Locks  of  the  Magdalen,  609. 

Locust  (Acridium  peregrinum),  its  migrations  and 
numbers,  324  ;  engraving  of,  326 ;  ravages  of, 
325;  checked  the  march  of  Charles  XII.,  326,  and 
note ;  laws  made  respecting,  327 ;  soldiers  em- 
ployed in  destroying,  327  ;  used  for  food  and 
sold  in  markets,  328,  note;  engraving  of,  pre- 
pared for  market,  328,  note. 

Long-Tailed  Titmouse,  nest  of,  246. 

Loochoo,  ivory  mines  in,  571. 

Loosestrife,  Purple,  its  habits,  426. 

Lotus  of  the  Egyptians,  448  ;  engraving  of,  449. 

Louse,  egg  of,  118. 

Luminosity  of  insects,  121,  and  note. 

Luminous  beetles,  negro  hut  lighted  up  by,  122. 

Lycoperdon  giganteum.  extraordinary  growth  of, 
408 ;  engraving  of,  407  ;  fecundity  of,  521. 

Lycopodia,  gigantic,  547. 

Lyonet  of  Maestricht,  his  study  of  a  caterpillar,  91. 

Lythrum  Salicaria,  its  habits,  426. 


M. 


Macaire's  observations  on  roots  of  chicory  and 
euphorbia,  427. 

Madrepore,  reefs,  opinion  of  Forster  and  Pe'ron  re- 
specting rapidity  of  growth,  69 ;  in  antediluvian 
periods,  69 ;  Germany  rests  upon,  70  ;  used  in 
building  houses,  71. 

Maestricht  animal,  561. 

Magdalen,  Bay  of,  in  Spitzbergen,  glaciers  in,  641. 

Magellan,  Clouds  of,  706. 

Maggot,  Rat-Tailed,  respiration  of,  116 ;  engraving 
of,  119. 

Magnus,  Ol-uia,  on  migration  of  swallows,  310. 

Magpie,  Common,  nest  of,  230 ;  engraving  of,  227. 


Maize  (Zea  Mays),  contains  sugar,  412. 

Mallow  yields  medicinal  juices,  422. 

Mammals,  migration  of,  300  ;  not  prone  to  leave 
haunts,  300  ;  hippopotami  do  not  migrate,  300  ; 
kangaroos  also  attached  to  their  native  soil,  300  ; 
bats  do  not  migrate,  301 ;  engraving  of  Nycteris 
bat,  302;  wonderful  intelligence  displayed  by 
buffaloes  in  migration,  302  ;  squirrels,  migration 
of,  wonderful  ingenuity,  302 ;  lemmings,  extraor- 
dinary swarms  of,  303 ;  engraving  of,  303. 

Mammoth  Cave,  U.  States,  654 ;  great  extent  and 
splendor  of,  654  ;  Cyprinodons  of,  engraving  of, 
653 ;  fish  found  in,  657  ;  rivers  of,  G57  ;  Dead  Sea 
in,  657  ;  Styx,  river  in,  engraving  of,  G57. 

Mandragora,  its  roots  used  for  enchantments,  328, 
note,  743. 

Mandrake  (Atropa  Mandragora),  opinions  of  the 
ancients  respecting,  432  ;  fables  respecting,  433, 
note ;  engraving  of,  434 ;  a  magical  herb,  742  ; 
supposed  human  form  of  its  roots,  742 ;  roots 
carved  and  used  for  enchantments,  743. 

Mangrove,  479 ;  curious  habits  of,  479 ;  forest  of, 
engraving  of,  477. 

Manihot  utilissima,  cassava  and  tapioca  furnished 
by,  409,  note ;  engraving  of,  410  ;  tapioca  ex- 
tracted from,  409,  note;  manner  of  extraction, 
409,  note. 

Manioc.     See  Manihot. 

Manna,  ready  prepared  sugar,  413  ;  plant  yielding, 
engraving  of,  414. 

Mariotte's  experiment  on  absorption  by  the  leaves, 
375 ;  engraving  of,  375 ;  experiment  to  decide 
amount  of  vegetable  transpiration,  392,  393. 

Mason-Bee,  common  in  Egypt,  206 ;  constructs  its 
abode  of  the  mud  of  the  Nile,  206  ;  -spider  (My- 
gale  ccementaria),  its  habits,  189 ;  and  dwelling, 
engraving  of,  191. 

Masons,  201,  277,  281. 

Massaya,  crater  of,  619  ;  great  extent  of,  619. 

Mastodon,  564  ;  found  in  America,  567. 

May-Bug,  ravages  caused  by  it  to  plantations,  330 ; 
quits  the  forests  and  attacks  fields,  330  ;  its 
larvae  cause  great  destruction,  330  ;  Normandy 
and  Seint-Infe'rieure  ravaged  by  them,  330. 

Meal,  Fossil,  30. 

Medusas,  cause  of  phosphorescence  in  the  sea,  18; 
M.  campanularia,  figure  of,  16. 

Megachile  Sicula,  carpenter-bee,  habits  of,  195  ;  its 
chambers  for  its  young,  196  ;  engraving  of,  196  ; 
wall  or  mason-bee,  its  habits,  205. 

Megalosauri,  562,  and  note. 

Megapodius,  240  ;  its  nest,  engravings  of,  241 ;  great 
size  of  its  nest  or  tumulus,  240,  241,  242,  and 
note  ;  general  view  of  nest,  engraving  of,  243  ; 
method  of  depositing  eggs  and  incubation, 
242. 

Melocactus,  how  opened  by  mules,  665,  note. 

Melophagus  of  the  sheep  (M.  Ovis),  engraving  of, 
91. 

Membracese,  their  fantastic  appearance,  87  ;  their 
diversity  of  form  and  rich  hues,  88,  89  ;  engrav- 
ing of,  88. 

Mesembryanthemum  crystallinum,  ice-plant,  375  ; 
engraving  of,  373. 


754 


INDEX. 


Metalliferous,  layers,  where  found,  542  ;  how 
formed,  542  ;  rocks,  542. 

Metamorphosis,  126 ;  of  bisects,  the  origin  of 
showers  of  blood,  130. 

Meteoric  stones,  731. 

Micrometers,  employed  hi  delicate  investigations, 
9  ;  their  minute  divisions,  9. 

Microscope,  The,  its  importance  to  the  investigator 
and  by  whom  discovered,  7  ;  achromatic,  8. 

Microscopic  animalcules,  10  ;  world,  extremes  in, 
13  ;  shells,  cities  built  of,  32. 

Microscopists,  their  statements  disbelieved,  7. 

Microzoa,  10  ;  capable  of  sustaining  extreme  cold, 
1G  ;  great  journey  made  by,  23  ;  in  vascular  sys- 
tem of  plants,  23  ;  in  blood  globules,  23. 

Microzoon,  its  extreme  minuteness,  13  ;  profusion 
of  vital  apparatus,  14  ;  indestructible  nature  of 
coverings  of  some,  14  ;  its  numerous  stomachs,  15. 

Migrations  of  animals,  295  ;  erratic,  290  ;  annual  mi- 
gration, 290 ;  commercial  relations  with  distant 
countries  not  so  favorable  to,  as  supposed,  299  ; 
mammals,  300  ;  not  prone  to  leave  their  haunts, 
300  ;  hippopotami  do  not  migrate,  300  ;  kanga- 
roos also  attached  to  their  native  soil,  300*;  bats 
do  not  migrate,  301  ;  engraving  of  Nycteris  bat, 
302 ;  wonderful  intelligence  displayed  by  buffa- 
loes in  migration,  301  ;  ingenuity  displayed  by 
squirrels^  301  ;  Regnard  on,  302,  note  ;  lemmings, 
extraordinary  migration  of,  303  ;  engraving  of 
lemming,  303  ;  of  birds,  304  ;  cranes,  305  ;  en- 
graving of,  300  ;  migration  of  some  birds  under- 
stood, 309  ;  mysterious  migration  of  swallows, 
309  :  suppositions  as  to  disappearance  in  winter, 
310,  and  note  ;  penguin  haunts  shores  of  Africa 
yearly  to  breed,  315  ;  of  reptiles  and  fishes,  320. 

Miliola,  constitutes  coarse  limestone,  33  ;  minute- 
ness of,  33  ;  engraving  of,  33. 

Milky  Way,  a  stellar  cloud,  091  ;  a  congeries  of 
stars,  696,  700  ;  distance  from  the  earth,  517. 

Mimosa,  yields  emollient  gum,  701. 

Mimosa  pudica,  asleep  and  awake,  engraving  of, 
430  ;  sensibility  of,  437. 

Miners,  182,  277  ;  engraving  of  mole-cricket,  184. 

Mint,  411. 

Mirage  in  desert,  672  ;  engraving  of,  671. 

Mississippi,  length  of  time  it  has  run  in  its  present 
bed,  574. 

Mistletoe,  how  propagated,  527,  and  note. 

Moa,  The,  of  New  Zealand,  235  ;  engraving  of,  231. 

Modiohis  lithophagus,  stone-eating  Modiolus,  en- 
graving of,  74 ;  has  cut  channels  in  columns  of 
temple  of  Jupiter  Serapis,  77  ;  engraving  of,  75. 

Mole,  a  protector  of  agriculture,  220  ;  its  food,  220 ; 
Talpa  Europcea,  engraving  of,  220  ;  its  voracious- 
ness, 220,  221,  and  note  ;  catches  birds,  222  ;  never 
gnaws  roots,  222  ;  an  insect-eater,  222 ;  errors 
concerning,  222,  note. 

Mole-Cricket,  engraving  of,  184  ;  dreaded  in  Ger- 
many, 185  ;  its  subterranean  habits,  185. 

Molluscs,  Microscopic,  shells  formed  of  carbonate 
of  lime,  83  ;  number  required  to  form  a  pound  of 
chalk,  83. 

Momotombo,  volcano  in  Nicaragua,  623. 

Monads,  minuteness  of,  41 ;  Oken,  Leucippus,  and 


Ehrenberg  on,  41  ;  great  numbers  in  a  drop  of 
water,  41 ;  of  Leibnitz,  42  ;  engraving  of,  41. 

Monk  Bombyx  (B.  monacha),  why  called,  213  ;  its 
caterpillar  destroys  forests,  213  ;  immense  num- 
ber, 213. 

Monsters,  733  ;  aerial,  found  in  Switzerland,  735  ; 
dragon  of  Mount  Pilatus,  engraving  of,  736  ; 
belief  in,  cherished  in  Northern  Europe,  737  ; 
works  of  Olaus  Magnus  the  source  of  many 
modern  tales  of  horror,  737 ;  sea-serpent,  after 
Olaus  Magnus,  engraving  of,  737  ;  cetacea  which 
crushed  ships,  engraving  of,  739  ;  marine,  en- 
graving of,  740  ;  bird-tree,  engraving  of,  741. 

Montaigne,  Michel,  on  age  of  trees,  404. 

Moon,  The,  714 ;  nearness  to  the  earth,  714 ;  size 
compared  with  the  earth,  engraving  of,  713; 
mountain  chains,  names  and  height  of  principal, 
715 ;  appearance  when  full,  engraving  of,  710 ; 
volcanoes  in,  715,  seq.  ;  supposed  seas  in,  717  ; 
craters  on  surface,  engraving  of,  717  ;  part  of 
crescent,  engraving  of,  719  ;  possesses  neither 
water  nor  vegetation,  718  ;  inhabitants,  718  ; 
coldness  of  climate  in,  718  ;  its  minutest  details 
revealed  by  the  telescope,  718. 

Mormolyce  phyllodes,  leaf-insect,  engraving  of,  88. 

Morton  discovers  Polar  Sea,  650. 

Mosaic  Deluge,  conjecture  respecting,  592. 

Mosasaurus,  561. 

Mosquitoes,  engraving  of,  92  ;  enemies  to  man,  93  ; 
mode  adopted  to  escape  them  in  Senegal  and  in 
Lapland,  93,  94  ;  plan  adopted  by  Maupertuis' 
companions,  94. 

Motacilla  arundinacea,  reed-warbler,  its  mode  of 
building,  273  ;  nest  of,  engraving  of,  271. 

Mound-Building  Megapodius,  240  ;  nest  of,  engrav- 
ings of,  241,  243. 

Mountain-Meal,  deposits  of,  where  found,  32,  note; 
infusoria  found  in,  engraving  of,  31. 

Mountains,  builders  of,  79,  240 ;  formed  of  shells, 
79  ;  how  upheaved,  538 ;  how  developed,  538 ; 
upheaval  of,  594;  Jorullo,  engraving  of,  595; 
their  shapes,  599  ;  ascent  of,  effect  on  respira- 
tion, 599. 

Muschenbroeck  on  transpiration  of  plants,  experi- 
ment by,  engraving  of,  393. 

Musset,  M.  Ch.,  discovery  of  manner  of  transpira- 
tion of  edible  Arum,  397. 

Mygale  avicnlrtria,  engraving  of,  102,  and  note  ;  M. 
ccementaria,  mason-spider,  its  habits,  190  ;  and 
dwelling,  engraving  of,  191. 

Myosotis  diversicolor,  mutability  of  its  color,  453. 

Myrica  cerifera,  413. 

Myristica  moschata,  engraving  of,  421. 


N. 


Naiades,  a  family  of  spiders,  202 ;  their  habits, 
202  ;  a  plant,  387  ;  leaves  unprovided  with  epi- 
dermis, 387. 

Naval  architecture,  270. 

Nebulae,  701 ;  what  they  are,  702,  and  note  ;  their 
shape,  702  ;  spiral,  engraving  of,  703  ;  number 
known,  704 ;  Dumb-Bell,  engraving  of,  704  ;  cal- 


INDEX. 


755 


culation  of  their  number,  704  ;  their  position, 
705  ;  Crab,  engraving  of,  705. 

Necrophorus  sepultor,  habits  of,  and  engraving  of, 
183  ;  deposits  its  eggs  in  dead  animals,  183  ;  in- 
terring a  small  rat,  engraving  of,  184. 

Negro  hut  lighted  by  beetles,  engraving  of,  122. 

Nelumbium  speciosum,  lotus,  engraving  of,  449. 

Nepenthes  di-stillatoria,  402  ;  engraving  of,  401  ;  lids 
of  its  pitchers  close  and  open,  443. 

Neptune's  Glove,  53  ;  Cup,  54 ;  engraving  of,  55. 

Neptunists,  opinion  of,  537. 

Nest,  of  the  tree  termite,  181  ;  of  the  common  mag- 
pie, 227  ;  of  the  saw-beaked  humming-bird,  237  ; 
of  the  Megapodius,  241,  243;  of  the  penduline 
titmouse,  247  ;  of  the  Cape  titmouse,  248  ;  of  the 
social  grossbeaks,  249 ;  of  the  tailor-bird,  253 ; 
of  the  golden  oriole,  254  ;  of  common  wren,  25G  ; 
of  barn-owl,  258  ;  of  the  goshawk,  259 ;  of  the 
golden-crested  wren,  2G4  ;  of  the  bower-bird,  2C7  ; 
of  the  water-hen,  270  ;  of  the  reed-warbler,  271, 
273 ;  of  the  little  grebe,  274,  275,  and  note  ;  of  the 
flamingo,  279,  281 ;  of  the  salangane  or  esculent 
swallow,  282;  of  the  party-colored  wren,  283, 
286 ;  of  the  common  thrush,  28G ;  of  the  oven- 
bird,  288  ;  of  the  burrowing-owl,  287,  288  ;  of  the 
Fondia  erythrops,  290  ;  of  the  troopial,  291 ;  of 
the  Baltimore  Oriole,  290 ;  of  the  crested  Cassi- 
cus,  293  ;  of  the  crane,  30G  ;  of  the  Ariel  swallow, 
31 1 ;  of  the  sparkling-tailed  humming-bird,  317  ; 
of  the  stickleback,  323. 

Nettle,  secretes  a  poison,  422. 

Niagara  Falls,  G10. 

Noctiluca,  Miliary,  its  part  in  causing  phosphor- 
escence of  the  ocean,  19  ;  appearance  under  mi- 
croscope, 19. 

Nostres,  Le,  the  spotted  Chlamydera,  2C6 ;  nuptial 
arbor  of,  mode  of  building  and  decorating,  2GG ; 
engraving  of,  267. 

Nummulites,  lofty  chains  of  mountains  formed  of, 
34 ;  rock  formed  by  agglomerated  nummulites, 
interior  view  of,  engraving,  34 ;  name,  how  de- 
rived, 37  ;  Paris,  Pyramids,  and  Sphinx  built  of, 
37  ;  form  hills,  5G9. 

Nuptials  of  plants,  458 ;  the  spouses,  pistils  and 
stamens,  458  ;  means  to  effect  the  union,  459. 

Nutmeg-Tree,  engraving  of,  421. 

Nut-Tree  near  Balaklava,  511,  note. 

Nycteris  Geoffroyi,  301 ;  engraving  of,  302. 

Nymph,  or  chrysalis,  engravings  of,  127,  132. 

Nymp/icea  lutea,  391 ;  N.  alba,  471. 

Nymphaeae,  remains  of,  iu  tertiary  strata,  569. 


O. 


Oak,  the  king  of  the  forest,  489  ;  great  size  of,  489  ; 

Chapel  Oak  of  Allouville,  495  ;  engraving  of,  497  ; 

great  height  of,  500 ;    legends  connected  with, 

511 ;  Tacitus  and  Pliny  on  age  of,  511. 
Oases,  662,  668. 

Oceanic  currents,  disseminate  plants,  523. 
Oceans,  ancient,  exuberance  of  life  in,  80. 
Odors  emitted  by  plants,  454 ;  sometimes  resemble 

those  emitted  by  certain  animals,  455 ;  on  what 

they  depend,  455. 


cEstrus  fly,  means  it  takes  to  deposit  its  egg,  148. 

Olaus  Magnus,  his  works,  737. 

Olive,  great  age,  508  ;  Pliny  on,  508. 

Oolite,  552 ;  formation,  5G1 ;  presents  first  appear- 
ance of  mammals,  561  ;  yields  lithographic  stone, 
5G1,  note;  contains  crustaceans,  etc.,  561. 

Opium,  a  vegetable  secretion,  418. 

Orchidacea?,  fertilization  due  to  insects,  4G7  ;  bees 
active  in  this  work,  467,  note. 

Ores,  origin  of,  542. 

Organic  forms,  differ  at  different  epoch.-:,  539. 

Organs,  Reproductive,  361. 

Origanum  Dictamnus,  vulnerary  properties  of,  744 ; 
used  to  dress  the  wounds  of  ^Eneas,  744. 

Oriole,  254  ;  nest  of,  engraving  of,  254. 

Orizaba,  effects  of  climbing  it,  599;  extent  of 
crater,  618. 

Osmia  papaveris,  poppy-bee,  197,  note  ;  0.  bicornis, 
a  mason-bee,  205,  and  note. 

Otranto,  palm-tree  of,  468. 

Otto  of  roses,  what  it  is,  455 ;  known  to  the  an- 
cients, 455,  note. 

Oven-bird,  mode  of  building  its  nest,  287. 

Owl,  long-eared  (Strix  bubo),  great  (S.  otus~),  barn 
(S.  flammea),  their  nidification,  257  ;  barn-owl, 
nest  of,  engraving  of,  258 ;  bun  owing  (S.  cunicu- 
laria),  nest  of,  engraving  of,  287 ;  its  subterra- 
nean habits,  288. 


P. 


Pagoda  fig-tree,  engraving  of,  369. 

Palaeotheria,  564  ;  remains  found  near  Paris,  564. 

Palingenesis,  42. 

Palms,  forest  of,  engraving  of,  487 ;  emblem  of 
tropical  vegetation,  489  ;  have  not  the  imposing 
look  of  European  forests,  489. 

Palm-Tree,  spathe  of,  used  as  a  bath,  366  ;  of 
Otraiito,  fertilization  of,  468 ;  of  Brindisi,  468. 

Pampas,  664  ;  great  extent  of  some,  664. 

Pan-Kou-Che",  the  Chinese  creator,  4. 

Panorpis,  larva  and  nymph  of,  engraving  of,  132. 

Panspermism,  hypothesis  of,  22,  680;  a  fiction, 
684  ;  overturned  by  microscopy,  684. 

Pantheism,  its  view  of  dissemination  of  life,  22. 

Paper-Making  wasp  ( Vespa  nidulans),  206 ;  engrav- 
ing of,  206  ;  nest  of,  engraving  of,  207. 

Papuans  build  on  piles,  580,  note. 

Papyrus  of  the  Nile,  352  ;  engraving  of,  353. 

Paris  built  of  nummulites,  37. 

Parus  Capensis,  nest  of,  251  ;  engraving  of,  248. 

Passenger  pigeon,  extraordinary  extent  of  flocks, 

314  ;  speed  of  flight,  315  ;  never  travel  at  night, 

315  ;  engraving  of,  31G  ;  carnage  of,  315. 
Patagonia,  plains  of,  how  formed,  596. 
Penduline  titmouse,  nest  of,  engraving  of,  247. 
Penguin,  king  (Aptenodytes  Patagonica),  engraving 

of,  229  ;  Patagonian,  230 ;  carries  its  egg  in  a 
pouch,  233 ;  habits,  rapidity  of  motion  in  the 
water,  on  shore  look  like  a  procession  of  peni- 
tents, 278  ;  its  nest,  278  ;  inhabit  Polar  regions, 
315 ;  haunt  Africa  to  hatch  young,  316. 
Pepper  plant  yields  an  aroma,  420. 


756 


INDEX. 


Perfume  in  the  flower,  454 ;  time  of  its  secretion, 
45G ;  various  examples  of,  456  ;  sometimes  pro- 
duces in  man  convulsions  and  death,  457. 

Perianth,  engraving  of,  360  ;  how  formed,  3GO. 

Perisperm,  the,  476;  its  various  conditions,  and 
what  it  yields,  476. 

Petal,  a  floral  leaf,  361. 

I'tialii'iia,  peculiarities  of,  P.  hyemalis  and  P.  nudn, 
engravings  of,  90  ;  destructive  effects  of,  in  for- 
ests, 98  ;  pine  bombyx  (Phnlcfnn  Bombyx  pini\ 
great  ravager  of  forests,  213  ;  only  method  of  ex- 
terminating, 210  ;  engraving  of,  21 1  ;  monk  bom- 
byx, 213  ;  pine-eating  (P.  Bombyx  pinivora),  213  ; 
why  especially  dreaded,  213 ;  invasion  of,  how 
checked,  213  ;  engraving  of,  214. 

Phaseolus  vulgaris,  531,  note. 

Philse,  island  of,  engraving  of,  673. 

Phcenix  dactylifera,  forest  of,  engraving,  487. 

Pholades,  description  of,  72  ;  engraving  of,  73 ;  how 
they  cut  stone,  74,  and  note. 

Pholas-hunters,  how  distinguished,  72. 

Phosphorescence  of  the  sea,  caused  by  Medusae,  18. 

Phryganea  communis,  its  habits,  200 ;  P.  slriala 
(Sheath  Phryganea),  engraving  of,  200;  their 
habits,  200. 

Physiology  of  flowers,  447. 

Physophora,  Hydrostatic  (P.  muzonema),  18. 

Phytelephas,  yields  vegetable  ivory,  476. 

Phytolacca  decandra,  528,  529,  note. 

Pilatus,  Mount,  dragon  of,  engraving  of,  736. 

Pimelodus  Cyclopum,  ejected  from  volcanoes,  628. 

Pine,  southern,  in  the  United  States,  416,  note. 

Pine-Silkworm,  engraving  of,  149  ;  -bombyx,  chief 
ravager  of  forests,  210  ;  engraving  of,  211 ;  called 
pine-spinner,  213  ;  -eating  Phalaenae,  213  ;  reason 
why  especially  dreaded,  213 ;  invasion  of,  how 
checked,  213  ;  engraving  of,  214  ;  -twister  (Tor- 
trix  lurionana),  manner  of  gnawing  plant,  215 ; 
French,  turpentine  extracted  from,  414,  and  note; 
-trees,  great  longevity  of,  508. 

Pinus  Canariensis,  almost  imperishable  from  being 
impregnated  with  resinous  secretion,  416  ;  great 
longevity  of,  508. 

Pistils,  real  organs  of  maternity,  whence  derived, 
361  ;  of  poppy,  engraving  of,  363  ;  of  madder 
plant,  engraving  of,  363. 

Pitcher-plant,  402  ;  engraving  of,  305  ;  its  lids  close 
and  open,  401. 

Pith,  the,  composed  of  cellular  tissue,  352  ;  paper 
made  of,  352. 

Placers  of  California,  542. 

Plane-Tree,  great  size  of,  495 ;  Pliny  on  size  of,  495 ; 
large  plane  in  Smyrna,  496  ;  Evelyn  and  London 
on  size  of,  496,  note. 

Planets,  their  proximity  to  the  sun,  708. 

Plants,  time  of  flowering,  Pliny's  proposal  respect- 
ing, 338  ;  uses  of  to  man,  340,  and  note;  anatomy 
of,  340 ;  knowledge  of  due  to  microscope,  343 ; 
cellular  structure,  343 ;  sexuality  of,  361 ;  physiol- 
ogy of,  367  ;  absorption,  367  ;  some  not  injured  by 
arsenic,  372,  and  note  ;  food  of,  373  ;  circulation 
in,  377  ;  Hales'  experiment,  377  ;  vital  action  of, 
erroneously  ascribed  to  physical  or  chemical 
forces,  384  ;  respiration  of,  386  ;  leaves  the  lungs 


of,  386 ;  respiration  of  some  aquatic.  387 ;  re- 
quire large  quantity  of  carbon,  388 ;  respiration 
of,  engraving  of,  389  ;  how  to  estimate  quantity 
of  oxygen  distilled  by,  388  ;  Lavoisier  on,  389 ; 
difference  of  respiration  at  night,  390 ;  task  of 
maintaining  harmonious  composition  of  air  in- 
trusted to,  390 ;  experiments  by  M.  Lacreze- 
Fossat  as  to  quantity  of  respirable  gas  discharged 
by,  391 ;  yellow  water-lily,  391  ;  transpiration  in, 
391  ;  sunflower,  transpiration  in,  engraving,  395  ; 
Arum,  experiment  on,  by  Ruysch,  3%;  edible 
Arum,  397  ;  engraving  of  edible  Arum,  397  ; 
weeping-tree,  a  vegetable  marvel,  398  ;  engrav- 
ing of  weeping-tree,  399  ;  pitcher-plant,  402  ; 
purple  sarracenia,  eccentric  structure  of,  402  ; 
growth  of,  404  ;  Duhamel  on  growth,  404  ; 
rapidity  of  growth  of  trees,  406  ;  dense  plants 
slowest  in  growth,  406  ;  Cavanilles'  experiment 
to  show  growth  of  trees,  406  ;  bamboo,  rapidity 
of  growth,  407  ;  fungi  grow  almost  visibly,  408  ; 
contrasts  among,  408  ;  tapioca,  409  ;  engraving  of 
tapioca  plant,  410  ;  rose,  jasmine,  tuberose,  411  ; 
mint,  rosemary,  balm,  lavender,  411  ;  quantity 
of  flowers  used  by  perfumers,  411,  note;  sugar- 
cane, 412 ;  maize,  412  ;  comes  from  America,  413, 
note  ;  manna,  413,  and  note  ;  engraving  of  manna- 
tree,  414;  wax-palm  (Ceroxylon  andicola),  413; 
candleberry  myrtle,  414  ;  French  pine,  415  ;  gas- 
eous vapors  of,  416  ;  emit  gleams  of  light,  417  ; 
furnish  milk  and  butter,  418  ;  medical  produc- 
tions of,  418  ;  aromatics  produced  by,  420  ;  poi- 
sonous juices  of,  422  ;  sleep  of,  428  ;  caused  by 
absence  of  light,  431  ;  aspect  of  clover-field  at 
evening,  431 ;  sensibility  in,  proven  by  numerous 
experiments,  436  ;  poisoned  by  Prussic  acid,  436  ; 
operation  of  narcotics  on,  436 ;  sensitive,  con- 
tract when  irritated,  436 ;  energy  displayed  in 
biological  action  in,  426 ;  manifestation  of,  in 
Cactus  grandiforus,  437;  adapt  themselves  to  cir- 
cumstances, 439 ;  movements  of,  441 ;  mobility 
of,  admitted  by  De  Candolle  and  Tiedemann,  441; 
move  under  the  influence  of  light  and  tempera- 
ture, 442  ;  examples  of,  442,  443  :  disturbance  of, 
by  insects,  444 ;  their  carnivorous  habits,  445, 
note  ;  nuptials  of,  458  ;  the  spouses,  pistils  and 
stamens,  458 ;  means  taken  to  effect  the  union, 
460  ;  fecundated  by  means  of  insects,  464 ;  sup- 
position that  each  nourishes  its  particular  insect, 
466  ;  union  of,  in  daylight,  468  ;  aquatic  plants, 
how  they  accomplish  this,  468,  471  ;  short-lived 
and  long-lived,  491  ;  with  almost  invisible  stalk, 
494 ;  stalk  of  vines,  504 ;  length  of  Calamus 
Rotang  and  Fucus  giganteus,  507  ;  density  of, 
518  ;  gelatinous,  518  ;  migration  of,  518  ;  showers 
of,  522  ;  disseminated  by  oceanic  currents,  523  ; 
by  rivers,  524  ;  by  ice,  525  ;  by  animals,  526,  527, 
528;  by  imported  products,  530;  in  tertiary 
epoch,  570. 

Pleiades,  great  distance  of,  from  the  earth,  700. 

Plesiosauri,  556  ;  their  appearance,  556. 

Pliny,  his  idea  of  a  floral  calendar,  338  ;  carried  out 
by  Linnaeus,  338  ;  on  size  of  plane-trees,  495  ;  on 
the  great  age  of  the  olive,  508  ;  on  the  oak,  511. 

Plutonists,  opinion  of,  537. 


INDEX. 


757 


Poison  in  insects,  125,  and  note. 

Polar  Sea,  646  ;  Parry  seeks  for,  646  ;  obstructions 

to  his  progress,  646  ;  Morton's  discovery  of,  650. 
Polarized  light,  employed  by  the  microscopist,  9. 
Pollen,  363  ;  in  different  plants,  engraving  of,  362  ; 

animalcules  of,  engraving  of,  362  ;  its  organiza- 
tion, 363 ;  its  action,  460,  note. 
Polyphemus,  his  retreat,  601. 
Polypi,  54. 

Polypus,  monstrous,  met  with  by  the  Alecton,  39. 
Pometou,  coral  island  in  archipelago  of,  69. 
Pontederia,  spongiole  of,  engraving  of,  349. 
Popocatepetl  in  Mexico,  619  ;  extent  of  crater,  619 ; 

interior  of  crater,  engraving  of,  619. 
Poppy-Bee  (Osmia  papaveris),  197,  note. 
Post-Tertiary  Period,  570  ;  duration  of,  570 ;  animal 

forms  in,  570  ;  deluges  during,  574. 
Potamogetons,  fish-plants,  387,  569. 
Potato,  stamen  of,  engraving  of,  361. 
Potato  Bug,  its  ravages  in  the  United  States,  331. 
Pouchet,  experiments  on  rotifers,  48,  and  note. 
Primary  Epoch,  541  ;   features  of,  541  ;  rocks  of, 

541. 
Protectors  of  agriculture,  219 ;  titmouse,  blackcap, 

etc.,  219  ;  mole,  220  ;  hedgehog,  223. 
Proteus,  figures  of,  11  ;  its  varying  form,  12  ;  P. 

anguinus,  651 ;  engraving  of,  652. 
Protozoa,  10. 
Providence,  wisdom  of,  revealed  in  the  tiniest  of 

organisms,  6. 

Pterodactyle,  559  ;  strange  aspect  of,  559. 
Pupae,  revival  of,  after  long  torpor,  49. 
Purple  Sarracenia,  cups  of,  filled  with  pure  water, 

402  ;  engraving  of,  403 . 
Pyralis  of  the  vine,  engraving  of,  98 ;  its  ravages, 

99  ;  cone  (Tortrix Strobiliana),  engraving  of,  217. 
Pyramids,  built  of  nummulites,  37  ;  great,  of  Egypt, 

and  Sphinx,  engraving  of,  35. 


Quails,  migrate  to  Malta,  309 ;  taken  in  swarms, 

309. 
Quaternary  Period,  570  ;  duration  of,  570. 


Racodium  cellare,  found  only  in  casks,  684. 

Radish,  Wild,  530,  note. 

Rafflesia  Arnoldi,  its  immense  size  and  weight,  451; 

worshipped  by  Javanese,  451  ;  engraving  of,  454. 
Rain-Drops,  impressions  of,  preserved  in  stone,  585, 

and  note  ;  engraving  of,  586. 
Ranunculus  aquadlis,  engraving  of  leaves  of,  356  ; 

means  of  fertilization,  471. 
Raphanus  raphanistrum,  531,  note. 
Rat-Tailed  Maggot,  116 ;  lives  in  stagnant  water, 

but  has  no  swimming  apparatus,  117  ;  engraving 

of,  119. 
Ravagers  of  the  forest,  208 ;  chiefly  insects,  208 ; 

their  variety,  numbers,  and  power,  209,  210. 
Ray  on  great  size  of  oak-tree,  495. 


Red  Sea,  seen  tinged  of  blood-red  color  by  Ehren- 
berg,  20  ;  caused  by  the  alga  T.  rubra,  20. 

Reduvius  personalus,  conceals  itself  under  spider's 
threads  and  dust,  143,  144  ;  engraving  of,  145. 

Reed- Warbler  (Motacilla  arundinacea),  its  mode  of 
building,  273  ;  nest  of,  engraving  of,  271. 

Regions  incessantly  rising,  596. 

Regnard  on  migration  of  squirrels,  302,  note. 

Regulus  omnicolor,  party-colored  wren,  engraving 
of  nest  of,  283  ;  form  of  nest  of,  286. 

Reproductive  organs,  360. 

Reptiles,  migration  of,  320 ;  showers  of,  320,  321  ; 
marine,  of  secondary  epoch,  551. 

Respiration,  of  plants,  386  ;  aquatic  plants,  387  ; 
engraving  of,  389  ;  Lavoisier  on,  389  ;  different 
at  night,  390  ;  of  animals  injurious  to  composi- 
tion of  atmospheric  air,  387. 

Respiratory  canals,  varied  contents  of,  688. 

Reticularia  maxima,  521. 

Revivification  of  animalcules,  Ehrenberg  on,  51. 

Rhizophora  gymnorrhiza,  479  ;  forest  of,  engrav- 
ing of,  477  ;  curious  habits  of,  479. 

Rhubarb,  Stalked,  used  as  food,  426  ;  roots  of 
Rheum  palmatum  yield  a  purgative,  426. 

Richmond  in  N.  America  built  on  Infusoria,  27. 

Rocks,  divisions  of,  540. 

Rock-Salt,  red  tint  of,  due  to  microscopic  animals, 
29. 

Rocky  Mountains,  Grand  Geyser  in,  engraving  of, 
633 ;  description  of,  634,  note. 

Root,  the,  organically  identical  with  the  boughs, 
347  ;  in  Fuci,  348  ;  in  water-lentil,  349  ;  creeps  on 
surface,  347  ;  sends  rootlets  downward  and  leaves 
upward,  347  ;  Duhamel's  experiment  on,  348  ; 
when  above  ground  becomes  branches  and  bears 
leaves,  347  ;  adventitious,  348  ;  their  functions, 
348 ;  performed  under  the  earth,  349  ;  supplied 
with  capillary  spongioles,  349  ;  engraving  of  spon- 
giole, 349;  adventitious,  of  banyan-tree,  369; 
seeks  water,  367  ;  emits  a  variety  of  matters,  427; 
observations  of  Duhamel  and  Macaire,  427  ;  effect 
of  light  upon,  481 ;  engraving  of,  483. 

Rose,  petals  of,  steeped  in  precious  essences,  411. 

Rosemary,  411. 

Roses,  Otto  of,  455,  and  note. 

Rotif era,  engraving  of,  44  ;  description  of,  47  ;  pre- 
tended revival  of  dead,  47  ;  their  revival  denied, 
48 ;  Pouchet's  experiments  on,  48,  and  note  ;  great 
vitality  of,  49,  50 ;  their  power  of  resisting  heat 
and  cold,  51,  52,  and  note. 

Ruysch  on  transpiration,  396. 


s. 


Saccharum  officinarum,  412. 

Sagas,  information  derived  from,  595. 

Sagus  vinifera,  wine-bearing  sago-palm,  yields  a 
vinous  sap,  382  ;  mode  of  collecting  it,  383. 

Salangane,  or  esculent  swallow,  inhabits  China, 
etc.,  form  of  its  nest,  where  built,  and  what  com- 
posed of,  282,  285  ;  engraving  of  nest  of,  282  ; 
mode  of  gathering  the  nests,  used  as  food,  285  ; 
their  value,  286,  note. 


758 


INDEX. 


Salix  Sabylonica,  531,  note. 

Sanctorious,  experiment  on  loss  in  the  body  through 
transpiration,  395. 

Santorin,  volcano  of,  627,  note. 

Sap,  the,  the  blood  of  plants,  377  ;  its  powerful  cir- 
culation, 377  ;  Hales'  experiment,  377  ;  collecting 
the,  of  the  sugar-maple,  engraving  of,  379. 

Sapotacese,  yield  gutta-percha,  417. 

Sarracenia  purpurea,  engraving  of,  402. 

Saw-Beaked  Humming-Bird  (Petasophora  serriros- 
tris),  engraving  of,  237  ;  nest  of,  239. 

Scabiosa  arvensis,  antipathy  of  flax  plant  to,  427. 

Scandinavian,  mythology  portrays  some  of  the 
great  physical  events  of  the  world,  593 ;  penin- 
sula, rising  of,  595. 

Scarabaeus,  or  sacred  beetle,  its  singular  metamor- 
phosis, 127  ;  mode  of  collecting  dung  in  which  to 
hatch  its  egg,  152  ;  engraving  of,  152  ;  cartouches 
of,  engraving  of,  153  ;  became  in  Egypt  a  symbol 
of  fecundity,  154 ;  effigy  of,  employed  in  various 
ways  by  the  ancients,  account  of,  154,  and  note. 

Scarites,  entraps  prey,  224 ;  giant  (S.  Icevigatus), 
engraving  of,  224. 

Schacht  on  Adanson's  calculations,  515,  note. 

Scheuchzer,  skeleton  discovered  by,  577. 

Sea,  architects  of,  57  ;  fecundity  of,  57  ;  gelatinous 
or  herbose,  57. 

Sea-Mews,  Sir  Hans  Sloane  on  flight  of,  309. 

Sea-Serpent,  fabulous,  engraving  of,  737. 

Secondary  Epoch,  551 ;  imaginary  view  during,  553 ; 
period,  fossil  shells  of,  560. 

Secretary  Bird,  its  powerful  wing,  236. 

Secretion,  408 ;  resinous,  imparts  strength  to  co- 
niferous woods,  416  ;  Canary  Islands  pine  quite 
impregnated  with  it,  416 ;  from  some  plants  in 
gaseous  form,  416 ;  vapor  of,  takes  fire,  416. 

Seed,  the,  474 ;  a  vegetable  egg,  475 ;  duration  of 
germinative  faculty,  475;  composed  of  integu- 
ment and  kernel,  475  ;  contains  young  plant  in 
miniature,  475  ;  preserved  by  cold,  482 ;  action  of 
water  on,  482  ;  absorbs  oxygen,  483 ;  exhales  car- 
bonic acid,  484 ;  cause  of  them  remaining  torpid, 
485;  great  numbers  of,  in  some  plants,  520; 
causes  of  their  destruction,  520 ;  disseminated 
by  the  air,  521 ;  by  the  sea,  523 ;  vital  resistance 
aids  dissemination,  532  ;  long  life  of,  532,  533. 

Sensibility,  vegetable,  432  ;  opinions  of  the  ancients 
respecting,  432,  et  seq.  ;  modern  opinions,  Smith, 
Martins,  Fechner,  433  ;  Debans'  remarks  on,  434  ; 
cedars  supposed  to  drop  blood,  435 ;  in  Mimosa 
pudica,  437  ;  in  plants  proven,  436 ;  Cactus  grandi- 
florus,  437  ;  various  observations  on,  439,  note. 

Sexuality  of  plants,  361. 

Shea-Butter,   tree   producing,    Pentadesma  buty- 

racea,  418. 

Sheath  Phryganea  (P.  striatd),  engraving  of,  200. 
Sheep,  intestinal  worms  cause  death  of,  24. 
Shells,  Fossil,  of  secondary  period,  engraving  of, 

560 ;  of  tertiary  epoch,  engraving  of,  568. 
Shooting  stars,  727  ;  recurrence  of,  728 ;  engraving 

of,  728  ;  explanation  of,  731. 
Siderodendrum  triftorum,  519. 
Silurian  Period,  543 ;  derivation  of  name,  543 ;  pro- 
duced crustaceans,  molluscs,  and  trilobites,  544. 


Simoom,  or  poison- wind,  669  ;  its  effects,  669. 
Sirius,  diameter  of,  697. 
Sisymbrium  Irio,  485. 
Sivatherium,  found  in  India,  567. 
Slave-Makers,  164  ;  red  ants,  167. 
Sleep  of  plants,  428  ;  observed  by  Linnaeus,  428,  and 
note  ;  changes  during,  429 ;  best  seen  in  warm 
climates,  429  ;  engraving  of,  430  ;  phenomena  of, 
430 ;  aspect  of  clover-field  at  evening,  431. 
Smyrna,  large  plane-tree  in,  490. 
Snow,  red  color  of,   caused  by  Discercea  nivalis, 

22. 
Snows,  eternal,  636  ;  line  of,  in  Europe,  639  ;  in 

America,  639  ;  in  Spitzbergen,  639. 
Solar  World,  the,  707. 
Soldier-Crab  (Pagurus  Miles),  198. 
Spallanzani,  belief  in  resuscitation  of  mummies, 
42,  and  animals,  45  ;  destroyed  false  creeds  re- 
specting emigration  of  swallows,  313 ;  noticed 
attachment  of  swallows  to  their  nests,  314. 
Sparrow,  the,  a  thief,  261. 

Spathe,  the,  366 ;  thin  in  small-sized  monocotyle- 
dons, 366 ;  strong  and  ample  in  some  palms,  366  ; 
in  Florentine  Iris,  365  ;  used  as  a  bath,  366. 
Sphex,  mode  of  procuring  food  for  its  young,  150. 
Sphinx,  built  of  nummulites,  37 ;  and  great  pyra- 
mids of  Egypt,  engraving  of,  35. 
Sphinx  Galii,  102 ;  engraving  of,  101. 
Spiders,  perfection  of  their  weaving,  160  ;  mode  of 
spreading  nets,  160, 161  ;  disgust  inspired  by  them 
not  well  founded,  161  ;  the  bite  only  of  tropical 
kinds  hurtful,  161 ;  those  found  in  this  country 
harmless,  161  ;  the  tarantula,  161, 162,  and  note; 
Mygale  avicularia  (bird-eating  spider),  engraving 
of,  162  ;    their  poison  apparatus,   1G3  ;  tropical 
species  kill  birds,   1G3  ;  their  fine  thread,  187  ; 
dress  made  of  it,   188 ;  garden-spider  (Epeira 
diadema),  189 ;  mason-spider  (Mygale  ccementa- 
ria),  189  ;   engraving  of,  191  ;  aquatic,  and  its 
diving-bell,  203. 
Spiral  Vallisneria,  471. 
Spitzbergen,  bay  in,  engraving  of,  641. 
Sponge,  lowest  form  of  animal  life,  53  ;  structure 
of,  53  ;  their  vitality  doubtful,  53  ;  vary  in  form 
and  color,  53 ;  contained  in  flint,  56,  and  note. 
Spots  on  the  Sun,  708  ;  engraving  of,  709 ;  nature 

of,  710,  and  note. 

Squill,  Maritime,  longevity  of,  533. 
Squirrels,  ingenuity  displayed  in  migration,  301  ; 

Regnard  on,  302,  note  ;  disperse  seeds,  526. 
Stalk,  the,  what  it  is,  355. 
Stamens,  engravings  of,  361. 
Staphylinus  olens,  engraving  of,  124 ;  exhales  fine 

perfume,  125. 

Stars,  the,  691  ;  Kepler's  opinion  about  them,  G91 ; 
numbers  of,  seen  by  naked  eye,  692,  and  note ; 
apparent  size  of,  697  ;  shooting,  727,  731. 
Stem,  the,  349  ;  called  the  trunk,  its  parts,  349. 
Stenopteryx  of  the  swallow  (S.  hirundinis),  91. 
Steppes,  661 ;  aspect  of,  663  ;  in  S.  America,  664  ; 

heat  of,  665 ;  sometimes  inundated,  667. 
Sticklebacks,  showers  of,  322  ;  nest  of,  323. 
Stone-Borers,  72. 
Strabo,  on  the  petrifactions  found  at  foot  of  Pyra- 


INDEX. 


759 


mids,  38 ;  on  sugar-cane,  412 ;  on  size  of  trees, 
515,  note. 

Strata,  secondary,  fauna  of,  551  ;  Jurassic,  552. 

Strelitzia,  remains  barren  in  France,  461. 

Strix  cunicularia,  engraving  of  nest  of,  287  ;  its 
subterranean  habits,  288. 

Stromboli,  616. 

Suberous  layer,  in  many  trees  unseen  on  account  of 
its  thinness,  350  ;  in  other  trees  forms  cork,  350. 

Sugar-Cane  (Saccharum  officinarum),  412  ;  Strabo 
on,  412  ;  Dioscorides  on,  412. 

Sugar-Maple,  produces  great  quantity  of  sap,  382, 
and  note  ;  engraving  of,  379. 

Sun,  rising  and  setting  in  the  Nubian  desert,  672, 
673  ;  great  size  of,  698,  note,  708  ;  its  weight,  708  ; 
spots  on,  708  ;  engraving  of,  709  ;  nature  of  spots 
imperfectly  known,  710,  and  note  ;  heat  of,  710. 

Superstitions,  various,  respecting  monsters,  733,  seq. 

Swallow,  Esculent,  or  Salangane,  form  of  nest, 
where  built  and  what  composed  of,  282,  285  ;  en- 
graving of  nest  of,  282  ;  mode  of  gathering  the 
nests,  285 ;  used  as  food,  285  ;  their  value,  285, 
note  ;  ease  of  flight,  305  ;  mysterious  emigration, 
309 ;  suppositions  as  to  disappearance  of,  310 ; 
Olaus  Magnus  on,  310  ;  Cuvier  on,  310,  note ; 
suppositions  as  to  emigration,  310  ;  betake  them- 
selves in  winter  to  Senegal,  313  ;  ariel  swallow, 
engraving  of,  311 ;  incident  of  flight  in,  to  Sene- 
gal, 314;  great  attachment  to  their  nests,  314; 
Spallanzani's  experiment,  314. 

Swan,  its  power  of  wing,  236. 

Swift-Moth  of  New  Zealand,  engraving  of,  681. 

Swimming  Fucus,  57  ;  engraving  of,  58. 

Sylvia  sutoria,  nest  of,  engraving  of,  253. 

Syringa  vulgaris,  531,  note. 


T. 


Tacitus  on  age  of  oaks,  511. 

Tactile  communication  by  antennae,  107 ;  called  by 
Huber  antennal  language,  107. 

Tailor-Bird,  nest  of,  253  ;  engraving  of,  253. 

Talegalla  Lathami,  its  size,  great  nest,  and  mode 
of  incubation,  245. 

Taliput  Palm,  leaves  of,  358. 

Talpa  Europcea,  common  mole,  a  protector  of  agri- 
culture, 220,  221,  note  ;  engraving  of,  220  ;  its  vo- 
raciousness, 220,  222,  note  ;  catches  birds,  221 ; 
never  gnaws  roots,  222  ;  its  fur,  222,  note. 

Tapioca,  abounds  in  midst  of  poison,  409,  and  note  ; 
engraving  of,  410. 

Tardigrades,  why  so  named,  43 ;  experiment  with, 
43  ;  their  resistance  to  great  heat,  43  ;  engraving 
of,  44;  their  incombustibility  denied,  45;  M. 
Tinel's  experiments  upon,  48,  and  note. 

Taurus,  Mount,  cascade  in,  engraving  of,  607. 

Telescope,  Galileo's,  695  ;  Lord  Reese's,  engraving 
of,  696  ;  Euler  and  Hooke's  opinions  as  to  need- 
ful size  of,  695,  note  ;  Sir  W.  Herschel's,  695,  note, 
696  ;  Struve's,  696  ;  power  of,  694,  696. 

Teredo  (T.  navalis),  78  ;  its  nature  and  destructive 
habits,  78  ;  engraving  of,  79. 

Termites  (T.  bellicosi),  or  white  ants,  175 ;  the  vari- 


ous ranks  of,  175 ;  the  females,  monstrous  egg- 
sacks,  175  ;  spout  out  eggs  like  a  fountain,  175  ; 
engraving  of,  176  ;  their  nests,  176  ;  engraving  of 
nests,  177  ;  other  termites  invade  our  dwellings, 
179  ;  destroy  timber-work,  etc.,  179  ;  tree-termite 
(Termes  arborum),  builds  on  trees,  180  ;  engrav- 
ing of  nest  of,  181  ;  depredations  of  white  ants, 
329  ;  their  order  of  march  and  use  signals,  329. 

Terrestrial  Crust,  how  formed,  537. 

Tertiary  Epoch,  563  ;  fauna,  richness  of,  563 ;  Palseo- 
theria,  Anoplotheria,  564 ;  imaginary  view  during, 
engraving  of,  565  ;  fossil  shells  of,  engraving  of, 
568  ;  vegetation  during,  569  ;  post-  period,  570  ; 
animal  forms  in,  570  ;  deluges  during,  574. 

Thompson's  weed,  how  introduced,  485,  note. 

Thor,  the  god  of  tempests,  5. 

Thrush,  Common,  forms  a  beautiful  nest,  286. 

Thunder-Bushes  caused  by  flies,  100. 

Tierra  del  Fuego,  engraving  of  view  in,  597. 

Tinea  sarcitella,  clothes-moth,  199  ;  larvae  of,  en- 
graving of,  198  ;  in  butterfly  state,  engraving  of, 
199. 

Tin-Schu,  gigantic  mouse,  571. 

Titmouse,  long-tailed,  nest  of,  246  ;  penduline,  nest 
of,  engraving  of,  247 ;  Cape,  nest  of,  engraving 
of,  248  ;  nest  of,  shaped  like  a  bottle,  251. 

Toad,  monster,  552. 

Torre  del  Greco,  destruction  of,  626. 

Tortrix  turionana,  or  pine-twister,  manner  of  gnaw- 
ing plant,  215  ;  (T.  Strobiliana),  cone  pyralis,  en- 
graving of,  217  ;  gnaws  cones,  218. 

Towns,  architects  and  devourers  of,  174. 

Tracheae  of  insects,  116. 

Transition  Period,  543 ;  earth  imperfectly  cooled 
down  during,  543 ;  neither  seasons  nor  climate 
during,  543. 

Transpiration  of  plants,  392 ;  forms  dew,  392 ; 
Muschenbroeck  on,  392  ;  engraving  of,  393  ;  Ma- 
riotte  on,  393  ;  experiment  by  Guettard  on,  393  ; 
Hales'  experiment  on,  396  ;  transpiration  in  the 
sun-flower,  engraving  of,  395 ;  experiment  by 
Ruysch  on  the  Arum,  396  ;  discovery  of  Musset, 
397  ;  weeping-tree  (Ccesalpinia  pluviosa),  vege- 
table marvel  of  transpiration,  398  ;  engraving  of 
weeping-tree,  399  ;  simple  experiment  to  demon- 
strate insensible  transpiration,  398 ;  Knight's 
experiment,  402. 

Trees,  growth  of,  404  ;  how  to  determine  age,  404 ; 
Adanson  on,  405  ;  growth  of  bark  very  rapid,  405 ; 
example  showing  rapidity  of  growth  of  trees,  406 ; 
experiment  of  Cavanilles  to  see  growth,  406  ; 
bamboo,  rapid  growth,  407 ;  plane,  enormous 
size  of,  495  ;  lime,  enormous  size  of,  495  ;  engrav- 
ing of,  509  ;  Oak  of  Allouville,  great  size  of,  495 ; 
engraving  of,  497  ;  baobab,  great  size,  496 ;  en- 
graving of,  513 ;  chestnut-tree,  marvel  of  vege- 
table kingdom,  499  ;  engraving  of,  501  ;  cedars 
of  Lebanon,  500  ;  wax-palm,  great  height,  503  ; 
Wellingtonia  gigantea,  503  ;  engraving  of,  505; 
Eucalypti,  504  ;  longevity  of  trees,  507  ;  nut-tree 
near  Balaklava,  511,  note;  turpentine-tree,  512  ; 
Adanson  on  age  of,  512 ;  cypress,  515 ;  Strabo 
on  size  of,  515,  note;  De  Candolle  on  age  of, 
515 ;  dragon's-blood  tree,  517  ;  engraving  of  516. 


760 


INDEX. 


Tremellae,  sudden  appearance  of,  518  ;  Tremella 
atro-virens,  engraving  of,  519. 

Trichina  spiralis,  a  small  worm,  25  ;  the  pig  its 
favorite  abode,  25 ;  fatal  accidents  caused  by,  in 
Germany,  25,  note  ;  figure  of,  24  ;  mode  of  mul- 
tiplying, 25  ;  female,  figure  of,  25. 

Trichodesmia  rubra,  figure  of,  20. 

Tridacna,  Gigantic,  called  the  "holy-water  pot," 
39  ;  how  detached  from  rocks,  39  ;  weight  of,  39 ; 
used  in  the  Moluccas  as  a  bathing-tub,  engrav- 
ing of,  38. 

Trilobites  during  Silurian  period,  544,  note. 

Tripolis,  formed  of  Infusoria,  discovered  by  Ehren- 
berg,  26,  30  ;  of  Bilin,  27  ;  red-colored  sorts  em- 
ployed in  house-painting,  etc.,  28. 

Troopial,  its  curious  nest,  289 ;  engraving  of, 
291. 

Tsetse,  fly  of  Africa,  its  redoubtable  character,  94 ; 
kills  cattle,  but  harmless  to  man,  95  ;  paralyzes 
agriculture  and  limits  the  explorations  of  man, 
96 ;  engraving  of,  95. 

Tuberose,  steeped  in  precious  essences,  411. 

Turpentine-Tree,  great  age,  512 ;  Josephus  on, 
512. 

Typhcena  Duponti,  sparkling-tailed  humming-bird, 
engraving  of,  317. 

Typographer-Beetle  (Bostrichus),  218. 


u. 


Unsen,  in  Japan,  Christians  thrown  into  its  crater, 
622. 

Upas-Tree,  its  terribl*  effects,  425  ;  fables  respect- 
ing, 425  ;  refutation  of,  due  to  Leschenault,  425 ; 
rapidity  of  the  action  of  this  poison,  426. 

Upheavals,  590. 

Upholsterers,  186 ;  fine  thread  spun  by  spiders,  187; 
Louis  XIV.  had  a  dress  made  of  it,  188. 

Urtica  crenulata,  suffering  produced  by  its  sting, 
422  ;  U.  urentissima,  virulent  poison  of,  422. 

Utricularia  vulgaris,  singular  appearance  of,  and 
phenomena  of  fertilization,  472 ;  engraving  of, 
469 ;  hydrostatic  leaves  of,  engraving  of,  473. 


V. 


Vallisneria  spiralis,  fertilization  of,  471. 

Vampires,  suck  blood,  665  ;  travellers  attacked  by, 
engraving  of,  666  ;  V.  spectrum,  engraving  of, 
667. 

Vanessa  polychloros,  great  tortoise  shell  butterfly, 
136. 

Vanilla,  does  not  fructify  in  France,  466,  and  note. 

Vapors  of  bastard  dittany,  combustion  of,  415. 

Vegetable  kingdom,  extraordinary  contrasts,  408  ; 
giants  of,  494  ;  vegetable  life  governed  by  a  vital 
force,  436  ;  vegetable  longevity,  507. 

Venus'  Fly-Trap,  affected  by  insects,  444  ;  engrav- 
ing of,  444  ;  alleged  to  be  carnivorous,  445,  note. 

Vespa  nidulans,  paper-making  wasp,  206. 

Vesuvius,  eruptions  of,  624,  625. 


Vibriones  found  in  intestines  of  man,  24. 

Victoria  regut,  where  found,  357  ;  its  immense 
leaves,  357  ;  their  structure,  357  ;  support  weight 
of  aquatic  birds,  358  ;  engraving  of,  357  ;  brill- 
iant flower  of,  451,  486. 

Vines,  very  great  length,  504  ;  Pliny  on,  507. 

Virgin,  threads  of  the,  explanation  of,  188,  189. 

Viverra  Musanga,  529,  note. 

Volcanic  eruptions,  submarine,  627,  note. 

Volcano,  Jorullo,  594  ;  Etna,  GOO  ;  Stromboli,  616 ; 
Goenong  Api,  616,  note  ;  Orizaba,  618 ;  Popoca- 
tepetl, 457,  459;  Massaya,  619;  Unsen,  622; 
eruptions  of  Etna,  624 ;  Momotombo,  623  ;  Coto- 
paxi,  623 ;  Vesuvius,  624  ;  submarine,  627,  note  ; 
Santorin,  627,  note  ;  theories  respecting,  629. 

Vulture,  bearded,  Gypaetus  barbatus,  236. 

Vultures,  sense  of  smell,  309  ;  Huinboldt  on,  309. 

Vultur  gryphus,  or  condor,  305 ;  engraving  of,  307. 


w. 


Wagner's  Lieberkuhnia,  figure  of,  12. 

Wall  Megacliile,  or  mason-bee,  its  habits,  205. 

Wasp,  Paper-Making  (Vespa  nidulans),  206;  en- 
graving of,  206  ;  nest  of,  engraving  of,  207. 

Water,  red-colored,  how  caused,  19. 

Water-Beetle,  Hydrophilus  piceus,  202. 

Water-Hen  (Fulica  chloropus),  its  elegant  nest, 
270. 

Water-Lentil,  root  in,  349. 

Water-Lily,  yellow  (Nymphcea  lutea),  391 ;  quantity 
of  oxygen  exhaled  by,  391. 

Wax-Palm,  413  ;  great  height,  503. 

Weavers,  289 ;  various  tissue  they  weave,  289. 

Weeping-Tree,  vegetable,  marvel  of  transpiration, 
398  ;  engraving  of,  399. 

Weeping- Willow,  531,  note. 

Weevils,  their  small  size  and  rapid  increase  in 
numbers,  332 ;  their  great  ravages,  332,  and  note. 

Wellingtonia  gigantea,  503  ;  great  size  and  height 
of,  503  ;  age  of,  503  ;  engraving  of,  505. 

Welwitschia  mirabilis,  note,  452. 

Whale,  the,  its  great  weight,  13. 

White  Lily,  perianth  of,  engraving  of,  360. 

Willow-Caterpillar,  hooked  feet  and  nail,  engrav- 
ing of,  135  ;  -eating  caterpillar,  head  and  jaws  of, 
engraving  of,  112  ;  Cossus  lignip&rda,  engraving 
of,  193. 

Wine-Bearing  sago-palm,  yields  large  quantities  of 
vinous  sap,  382 ;  engraving  of,  383. 

Wismar  harbor,  mud  in,  largely  composed  of 
Diatomaceae,  21. 

Witch-Dances  in  the  Harz,  606. 

Witches'-Brooins  caused  by  flies,  100. 

Wood,  the,  how  composed,  352  ;  sections  of  palm- 
tree,  engraving  of,  355,  note. 

Wood-Borers,  72  ;  bug,  egg  of,  118. 

Wood-Destroying  insects,  213. 

World,  The  Invisible,  1. 

Wren,  the,  its  family  and  house,  255 ;  Troglodytes 
Europceus,  nest  of,  engraving  of,  256. 

Wren,  Party-Colored  (Rfgulus  omnicolor),  form  of 
its  nest,  280  ;  engraving  of  nests  of,  283. 


INDEX. 


761 


x. 


Xenophon,  accident  that  overtook  his  army,  409. 
Xylocopa   violacea,  English   carpenter-bee,    197, 
note. 

Y. 

Yellow  Amber,  source  of.  584,  and  note. 


Yellowstone  Region,  Grand  Geyser  in,  engraving 

of,  633  ;  description  of,  634,  note. 
Yoseuiite  Falls,  609. 


Zambesi,  game  on  banks  of,  295  i  falls  of,  610, 
Zea  Mays  contains  sugar,  412. 


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